Vital Company
by KnightInShiningFlannel
Summary: They stood in comfortable silence, allowing everything she told him to settle in before he finally spoke, "This guy sounds like an idiot." Came the strangers deep timbre. She looked at him, "Why because he's not here with me?" She asked softly. He shook his head as he replied gruffly, "No... Because he's obviously lost sight of how good he has it." LL of course. Java Junkie.
1. Returning Visitor

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7!

 **Authors Note:** For those of you who might be confused, this is my belated way of editing chapters and scenes that should've been edited long ago, as well as my way of being reacquainted with this story and beloved characters. And if all goes well, chapter eleven will be up sooner than I think. I'm doing my best to summon the writer in me, because she got lost for a while (a _long_ while), but hopefully she resituates herself back where she belongs lol. To all the _new_ readers; Welcome, hope you enjoy this story as much as I love writing it.

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 1: Returning Visitor_

One after another inescapable thought flooded through her mind with a force that caused her to lose track of just how many Manhattan's and tequila shots she actually consumed.

The alcohol caused her mind to mercilessly reminisce scene after scene, memory after memory and promise after promise of everything that had happened between Luke and herself, from the moment they both agreed to give and receive more than just friendship from one another.

She winced at the burn of the tequila as she quickly downed one of the loitering two shots that sat on the bar in front of her right hand. Unfortunately, the alcohol only added to the already present numbness, which had vastly enveloped over her body. She placed the empty shot glass back on the bar, only to allow her fingers to latch loosely onto the remaining shot glass filled with the honey-toned liquid.

She leisurely allowed her body to turn away from the bar. She lifted a leg to take a step forward, but stumbled back a bit, causing the middle of her back to softly come into contact against the bars counter.

The contents of her alcohol consumption rapidly caught up to her. She felt as if her knees would buckle at any second, and her usual blue as the sky eyes were now dark and clouded, which caused a blurry haze around anything she set her eyes upon.

She closed her eyes briefly as she tried to make an effort to blink away the fuzz filled vision. As she looked up, her eyes settled straight ahead on the very loved-up newlyweds. She was happy for them, truly and undeniably happy for her daughter's long time best friend and her new husband, and yet there was a part of her that had to berate a very tiny, but piercingly _loud_ green monster that raged inside of her full of envy for the couple.

Just as she cursed that hideous monster, she felt the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach turn with disgust as she felt the warm liquid rise up her throat. She thickly swallowed it back down, begging it to stay there.

She really was happy for them. She allowed one corner of her lips to curve slightly as her eyes lingered longingly on the newlyweds. She squeezed her eyes tightly and sanctioned her chin to fall to her chest as she inhaled a struggled breath at the gut-wrenching thought of her own wedding never to take place.

She didn't look up right away as she began to feel a warm tingling feeling on the right side of her body, notifying her of a new presence.

"So," Came the very low manly timbre from her right, "I see you're also a strong believer in the preservation of water." he mirrored her stance at the bar, holding a bottle of beer in his left hand.

Lorelai slowly began to roll her head upward in the direction of the voice. She permitted her eyes to leisurely rake over the mans well-built frame. He was wearing brown, worn steel-toed boots, faded light blue jeans, a plain heathery-beige t-shirt that hugged his body nicely showing the shadow of his nicely chiseled chest and a vintage looking jacket to cover his broad shoulders.

Just as her eyes were about to skim up to her new companions face, her eyes were instantly drawn to his beautiful platinum band that rested on his left ring finger as it, along with his other four fingers held his beer.

It was a simple and common looking wedding ring, except for the tiny indentions that shadowed the top of it. Usually sentiments were carved on the inside of a ring, but this mans ring displayed two beautifully engraved script letters that were etched onto the outside of the band.

Between both letters lay the tiniest speck of a tinted diamond, which Lorelai had immediately recognized as the reason the ring had caught her attention. The sparkle from the tinted diamond had flashed, as it caught even the slightest bit of light. It was stunning and yet still manly.

After an extended moment of appreciating the man's piece of jewelry, Lorelai permitted her lips to curl upwards as she remembered the man's initial comment.

Her eyes continued its upward decent and finally landed on his face. Lorelai blinked lazily. She felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight of his features. He was definitely a sight indeed. He looked like a hotter version of a younger Pierce Brosnan.

He had salt and pepper colored hair that matched his medium length stubble, which dusted his tanned skin. His left brow was arched at her lack of response and he wore a small smirk on his lips. His emerald colored eyes warmly gazed at her, patiently awaiting for a word to leave her mouth.

Lorelai swallowed thickly and returned her gaze back towards the crowd as she smirked. Even intoxicated, Lorelai's mind worked at rapid-fire speed and she shot back.

"Yeah, well, you know after the 'yummy bartender' guys were let go, the Manhattans just weren't doin' it, so I switched to Jose Cuervo. And after two shots of Jose, he suddenly had me serenading him with; _Love to love you, baby_."

The man gave a deep hearty chuckle, "Well, I haven't exactly felt the need to hit the strong stuff just yet, but this is the second round," he said lifting his bottle a bit "and it had me doing my best Al Green, let me tell ya." He joked dryly causing Lorelai to laugh before he raised the bottle to his lips for a gulp.

"Let's Stay Together?" she asked, her voice holding a smile.

He shot a glance over at Lorelai and smirked, "Sure, but my wife might get a bit jealous if she sees me bringing you home." He joked.

Lorelai shook her head slowly as she let out another laugh. She was quite impressed with his quick comebacks, and he was definitely lifting her mood. Pleased that he had gotten her out of her previous dejected mood she was obviously in, he took another chug.

Lorelai squinted her eyes a bit, trying to study the man's face carefully for something familiar, "You new to town, Al?" she asked, not able to place the man, yet there was something about his nose, jaw structure and build that seemed to slap her in the face with familiarity.

He gave her a small smile, "No." he shook his head, "Not new." He paused briefly, as if carefully thinking over his next words, "I'm more like… a returning visitor, I guess." He inhaled a breath, "I was born and raised here, and uh- I got a call… to relocate a while ago… but I figured I was overdue for a visit" he shrugged easily, "so here I am." He glanced around the square, and then added, "It's not exactly Alabama, but it's definitely sweet." He joked dryly allowing his smirk to curve onto his lips.

Lorelai was quite impressed with the man's deep voice, his nervous stammering, subtle sweetness and dry humor, he reminded her so much of… Luke.

Luke.

All of a sudden her chest felt constricted again as she gasped for a steady breath of air to reach her lungs. As quickly as her laughter had spilled from her lips, they died just as fast with the thought of him. Luke wasn't there. He left to Philadelphia, although, he had left a long time before Philadelphia. He was pretty absent ever since April came into his life, and Lorelai didn't blame April at all. She didn't even have a drop of hostile feelings for the girl.

Yeah, it may have been her put in an appearance that caused their world to turn upside down resulting in Lorelai landing flat on her face, but Lorelai knew it wasn't April's fault. The kid was just there, being a kid. Lorelai actually thought she was cute, quirky even.

It was Luke that caused her the pain she was feeling, the constant unhappiness and unworthiness of herself to him. How he would dodge or insist that it was too soon for her to get to know his daughter and how he – not so subtly – wanted to keep her away from April.

She was his fiancée for goodness sake and April was his daughter. How did he expect things to work once they were married? Then the feared and malice thought sprang into Lorelai's mind; _What if getting married and being with her, wasn't exactly in his plans anymore?_

She sighed heavily with that thought, briefly forgetting her companion's presence as he watched on in silence.

The kind stranger had instantly noticed her abrupt mood change and looked back over to see her once again looking miserable and lost in thought as she watched the partygoers celebrate. He took another sip of his beer allowing her to have a minute while her mind evidently raced wildly. After a moment he softly cleared his throat causing Lorelai to be pulled back to reality.

She shook her heavy head and sighed once again, "Sorry." She whispered, just loud enough for him to hear as she shot him a glance before looking down at the shot glass in her hand as the liquid gently rippled towards the sides.

"Should I bet big on you?" he questioned, his deep voice remained at a hushed volume

Lorelai looked up at him with furrowed brows, "Excuse me?" she asked.

He nodded towards her as he spoke, "Why the long face?"

Lorelai's expression softened at his extrasensory perception and she shook her head gravely, "It's complicated." She said then lifted her hand with the shot to tap his bottle as she toasted, "Cheers!"

He softly clinked the neck of his beer bottle to the side of the shot glass, as he repeated, "Cheers."

He finished off his beer before turning to place it on the bar, then swiveled back. Lorelai gulped down the shot and turned to place the now empty glass on the counter as well.

He cleared his throat again and looked over at Lorelai, "You uh… wanna talk about it?" he asked gruffly

Lorelai shook her head again as she answered, "It's a long story." She forced a small smile as she looked over at him and continued, "Not a very uplifting one either."

The man glanced at his wristwatch and shrugged, before he replied, "I've got some time."

Lorelai breathed out a rueful chuckle as she replied, "Yeah…" she sighed, "I thought I did too."

After a moment the man spoke up once more, "What happened?" he asked gently, determined in thought that a good vent would make her feel better… for now.

Lorelai inhaled deeply as she twisted her lips in thought, "My guy." She started, lifting her left hand and slightly wiggled her fingers to show him her engagement ring, "He uh…" she blew out an exasperated breath, "He recently found out he has a kid." Lorelai looked up to watch his reaction as she continued, "A twelve-year-old daughter that he never knew about." His brows raised in surprise just as she assumed it would and she nodded, "She popped up one day at his diner."

"Whoa–" he said, his face full of shock.

"Wait," she stopped him with a smile, "It gets better, I promise." She swallowed, "Two months after she pops up, I head over to his diner to get a cup of coffee and to see him, ya know," she paused, internally steeling herself for yet another replay of the event that caused her world to flip, "only to– come face to face with the girl, while she was refilling salt and pepper shakers." As she finished, her volume faded.

"What?" he said in disbelief, "He hadn't told you when he found out?"

Lorelai laughed darkly, "Oh no! Of course not, because that would've been the commonsensical thing to do." She said as she shook her head and rolled her eyes at Luke's stupidity.

"Not cool." He said as his eyes showed her sympathy

"Yeah, well, if that wasn't enough, how about this? Even after I catch him in his little secret lying game, and I push past his fraudulence, he repeatedly insinuates that I not come around the diner while she's there. As if I have an disease and he's worried that I might be contagious or something to her."

"Wait, what?!" the man says in astonishment

Lorelai lifts her brows and just nods her head up and down gradually, "Yuuup."

"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" he asked incredulity in his deep voice that only made Lorelai think of Luke even more, "I mean, no disrespect or anything, but… you're his fiancée!" he said as if telling Lorelai the news for the first time, which caused her to give a faint laugh, glad that she wasn't the only one who was bothered by her situation.

"You should tell him that." She joked lightly

"So, I'm gonna assume you want to get to know her, but you haven't had the opportunity to?" he treaded

"Yeah. I mean, I wanna be there for Luke, you know?" She paused, "That's his name," she shrugged and took a small breath, preparing her tongue for the bitter label about to leave her lips, "my fiancée." She informed.

The man smirked, "I kinda got that."

Lorelai nodded, "I had my daughter when I was sixteen." She began again, gaining raised brows from her listener, "I lived in a high society life. I hated it. I didn't want to raise my kid like that, so I left. I packed a bag and got a one-way ticket to anywhere. I did most of it on my own really. I mean Mia was a huge savior, but she never interfered unless I asked." She continued telling him her story as if he new the people she was talking about.

"And even though I had Rory and Mia, I sometimes would feel alone and helpless." She sighed softly, remembering her past, "But then I met Luke. He never judged me. Not once. He was always there for me and my daughter, Rory. I just…" she let out an exhausted sigh, "I don't know. I guess when he had gotten this rude awakening, I just wanted to be able to be there to help and support _him_ for a change, you know?" She finished defeated

"But he won't allow it." He stated, more than questioned.

Lorelai just shook her head, as she whispered, "No."

The man nodded, "And, I'm also gonna assume that you've talked to him about this already?"

Lorelai exhaled loudly, "Yes and no. It's just, with Luke it's black and white. You can't really mistake his actions, it's clear as day."

"Hmm." He nodded slowly, "So, what are you gonna do?"

Lorelai shrugged, "I really don't know."

"Okay, well let me ask you this;" he waited til Lorelai's smoky blue eyes met his emerald ones, "you love him?" he asked.

"With all my heart." She answered without skipping a beat.

"You still wanna marry him?" He continued.

"More than anything." She answered immediately.

His eyes never wavered from Lorelai's, as he asked his next question, "You willing to sacrifice your happiness for him?"

Her brows furrowed slightly as she answered, "Besides Rory, Luke _is_ my happiness."

The man pressed his lips together, half expecting her answer, and half surprised at it, "Sorry, if I beg to differ." He responded lightly.

Lorelai shrugged half-heartedly, "Like I said, it's complicated."

She glanced back at the party, before she refocused her attention on the man and allowed more words to fall from her mouth, "He isn't the same guy." She blinked, "I mean, he is, he just…" she groans in frustration, "I don't know anymore. One minute he's back to being sweet, charming and loving grizzly Luke, and then the next minute he's Jack Frost. I can't keep up. And I'm trying, believe me, I'm trying really hard, but I'm so confused. It's to the point where I don't even know if he still loves me, let alone if he even wants to be with me anymore." She exhaled a shaky breath, "I constantly try to convince myself that he's not just settling, but with everyday that passes by, my arguments get weaker and weaker."

The man took in every word she spoke, as if actually feeling every emotion from her every word, "Can I be honest with you?"

She looked at him, "At least someone will."

"This guy sounds like an idiot." He said then turned to walk around the bar, "I need another beer." He grabbed a hold of two bottles and returned to his previously vacated spot next to Lorelai.

"Why, because he's not here with me?" Lorelai asked picking back up the conversation

"No, because he obviously lost sight of how good he has it." He replied as he opened both bottles and handed her one.

Lorelai accepted it and swore the bottle was colder than she remembered her last one being, but she furrowed her brows at the man as she pondered his statement, "How would you know if he had it good? You don't even know me." She said before taking a sip of her beer.

He shook his head, "Within the time I've been talking to you, anyone can clearly see how much you love this guy." He said calmly. Lorelai looked straight at him, "You don't have to be Einstein to figure that out."

Lorelai scoffed softly, "Yeah? Well it must be karma to bite me in the ass after all those years rebelling against Emily Gilmore's high maintenance standards, because I ended up with Clueless McGee. He's the only one that matters to me to understand how I feel about him and as of lately, he hasn't got a clue… or maybe he just doesn't care, either way, I don't know what to do anymore."

He felt so deeply sorrowful for her as he sighed, "I don't know either. I'm sorry, I'm no help."

She gave him a small smile, "Actually, you are. Letting me vent, keeping me company and grabbing me a beer." She said as she lifted it to her lips for a sip.

He shot her a smirk, before he glanced at his left wrist, where his wristwatch lay strapped to his wrist. He swiftly drained his beer then placed his empty bottle on the counter behind him before he turned back to face Lorelai.

"Well, I have to get back. Check in with the Mrs's back home before I hit the hay. Gotta get as much rest as I can, I have a feeling my time here will need all the energy I can give. If you remember me tomorrow, then I'll be seeing you around very soon."

Lorelai gave him a confused look, "How are you gonna see me around? I thought you were just visiting?"

"I am, but I'll be here for a while, so if you remember me when you aren't draining Jose dry–"

"Dirty." She interrupted easily.

The man not knowing what she was talking about, just continued, "then don't hesitate to say hello. I have a feeling we're gonna become good friends." He said with a boyish smile, his gray stubble lighting his cheeks with a light shimmer.

"Friends huh?" she nodded in approval, "Well, you can never have too much of those." She said taking another sip from her beer.

"Your guy comes home soon?" he asked.

"Yeah. The day after tomorrow actually. Why?"

He nodded then continued on, ignoring her question, "You be safe tonight and go have fun, Lorelai. You deserve it." He finished, before he began to walk away.

Lorelai was nodding along distantly until, "Hey wait! How do you know my name?" she asked, realizing she hadn't told him that piece of information.

He gave her a full smile that caused her heart to flutter with the familiarity of the sight that she still couldn't quite place, "Who doesn't know _thee_ Lorelai Gilmore in this town?"

Lorelai's mouth fell open slightly, "I don't know if I should be creeped out or flattered." She said a little confused.

"I'd go with the latter." He replied and took a step away again, but she stopped him once more.

"Hey!" she called, causing him to look back at her once more, "What's your name?" she asked, suddenly realizing she hadn't asked him that whole time

He smirked, "A few people that are dear to me, call me, Billy."

She smiled, "Thanks for the free session, Billy."

He nodded his head as if tipping an imaginary hat, "See you soon." He bid good night and shot her a wink.

Lorelai reared her head back as her face contorted in confusion and wonder at that wink. It had caused a chill to run through her body as it reminded her of the only other person who-

"Lor!"

She was pulled from her thoughts as she heard Christopher's voice call out to her. Lorelai looked in the direction his voice had traveled from and saw him approaching her.

"Come on, Lor." He said as he gently took a hold of her elbow and led her back over to where he came from.

Lorelai glanced over her shoulder, in the direction where Billy's form had retreated, only to come up empty. She slowly looked around the square, trying to spot where he went, to see if it would somehow piece the puzzle that he created for her together, but as her eyes searched, it was to no avail. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

"What's the matter, Lor?" Chris asked as he noticed her eyes searching the party.

Lorelai shook her head. She tore her eyes from the crowd to look at Christopher, "Nothing. Let's go." She replied and allowed Chris to stabilize her to walk over to their table.

* * *

Lorelai had tanked back two thermos filled coffees and had somehow gotten her second wind. She added a shot of tequila to each thermos, saying it was perfectly fine seeing as she was a quarter Irish. She walked over to Brian who held the microphone.

"Hey Brian!" Lorelai greeted a bit loudly

"Hey Lorelai!" he greeted back casually over the mic, causing the crowd to laugh at the two.

"Could I see that?" she asked sweetly pointing at the microphone.

"Sure." He said as he handed it over.

"Thanks." She cleared her throat, "Hi everyone! I wanted to say a few words about our girl, Lane." She started, placing her drink on top of Brian's table, "But before I talk about Lane, how about a hand for Kirk and his genius business idea of _Yummy Bartenders_."

The crowd clapped, Babette screeched a whistle and Ms. Patty gave out a loud ' _whoo!'_

"Right?" Lorelai nodded, "I swear, that was the most attention I've got from the male specimen in a while."

The crowd laughed, but Rory held a troubled expression, knowing that her mom wasn't making a joke.

"Anyway, back to Lane." Lorelai continued, "Lane. The best friend a mother could hope her daughter could have. I've known Lane forever, and I'm just so incredibly happy that she's gotten pass the _engaged_ stage."

After that line, Rory looked over at Chris with an obvious worried expression, hoping nothing more of insight into her mother's relationship was about to leave Lorelai's mouth.

"I mean, I'm just so happy that this adorable _22-year-old_ girl has gotten married." She swallowed thickly, " _22_." She held up two fingers.

She pulled a corner of her mouth upward, "It's really hard to get married. Believe me, I should know. I've been waiting for a _long_ time, but I'm not getting married." She shook her head, "It's not in the cards. I wanted it to be, but the man upstairs said, _'Lorelai, get over yourself, I brought you into this world alone, and I'm taking you out the same way'_ ," she took on a deeper God-like voice.

"So nope. No big day for me…" She paused and sniffled softly, "But, Lane and Zach, you both are so very lucky to have each other. Cherish that, okay?" she said and earned confirming nods from the couple. "Because when you have something good, you shouldn't just throw it away, especially when a bump comes along, because they _will_ come along, whether you like it or not."

She slowly walked around the table, towards the next, "And Zack," she stopped to point at him, "Don't hurt her. Whatever you do, talk to her, don't keep her in the dark about aaaanything. Even if you're embarrassed or you don't know how she'll react, just tell her, okay? Tell her if you have a kid when you find out, okay Zack? Don't wait."

The crowd went silent, and Christopher and Rory took their queues to make their way up and intercept the microphone from Lorelai, but before either of them could reach her, she spoke up again.

With a straight face, red-watery eyes and a slightly deflated stance, Lorelai looked towards Lane and Zack, "Seriously, guys. Don't give up on each other, because once one of you does-" she shook her head sadly, "it'll be the worst pain you'll ever feel."

It was after her last word was spoken, that father and daughter finally made it to Lorelai. Chris smoothly ushered Lorelai away, while Rory gently removed the microphone from her mother's hands. Lorelai easily gave in to the attempts of her daughter and her daughter's father, as they subtly tried to remove her from the center of attention.

* * *

Lorelai had been scooped up and was carried off by Chris, in the direction of Rory's car. And as if an alarm went off, just before she gave herself up to the final pulls of the alcohol, a bright and brief glare caught her eye, which caused her to furrow her brows at the light that refrained her from giving in to the great wonders of slumber.

With strain, she slowly lifted her head off of Chris's shoulder and allowed her eyes to search in the direction of where the offensive glare came from.

Her blurry vision wasn't any help, but as she allowed her drowsy eyes to seek out a sign of what might have been the cause of the glimmer, she came up short… that is until the impudent light sparkled once more.

She darted her eyes in the direction and right as Chris took a step forward, getting them closer to Rory's car, the glare faded out to a soft twinkle as they moved away from the light that caused the reflection.

As she put every last ounce of effort into focusing on the glimmer that had caught her eye, she was able to define the culprit. It was a ring. In the near distance between the Soda Shoppe and the Diner, from what she could see was a small piece of silver.

As Chris continued to move, the angle of the light slowly moved as well, allowing it to leisurely shine on a figure. As Lorelai refocused her eyes, she immediately recognized the figure. It was Billy.

The flash of light came from the speckle diamond on his ring, which was showing as his arms was crossed over his chest with his left hand resting on his right bicep, allowing the ring to show.

Lorelai silently lifted her hand in a brief wave then curled her fingers into her palm as she gave him a lazy smile. Billy nodded his head in a bowing manner as he shot her a small smile back, before turning up the back alley between the two buildings and disappearing from Lorelai's sight.

She sighed heavily and laid her head back on Chris' shoulder, just before she welcomed the drunken slumber to swallow her whole.

* * *

Hours later, the shrill ringing of a phone awoke Lorelai. She roughly groaned and slightly struggled to sit up to search for the offensive object that was causing her to experience the feeling of being out at sea.

"Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Hey!" Came Luke's greeting through the receiver, "It's me."

"Oh, um. Hi." She tried to gather herself, "Wha-what time is it?" she asked trying to read the red numbers on the clock on her nightstand.

"It's almost 5:45…" He said at the realization of the hour, "Aw jeez." He must've been up for a while, due to his internal alarm clock, "I'm sorry, you were asleep." He said, beating himself up.

Lorelai tried to softly clear her throat, at the tone in his voice, she knew his apology was genuine and he didn't know the consumption amount of her alcohol last night.

"Yeah. I, uh... um..." she stopped mid sentence as she suddenly spotted Chris sitting on the chair beside her.

Apparently the ringing phone had stirred him as well. Chris silently grabbed his jacket from the foot of the ottoman and stood up. He looked over at Lorelai and made a hand signal that motioned he would call her. He gave her a wave along with a slight smile, before he exited the room.

"I'm sorry, Lorelai." Luke's voice cut through again, bringing her attention back to him, "It's early." He said, feeling stupid that he hadn't checked the time before he even picked up the phone in the first place, "Go back to sleep, and I'll give you a call later, when you've at least had some coffee–"

Lorelai sighed inaudibly, already feeling the invisible strings of her heart being tugged on by Luke's voice alone, "No, Luke, it's fine." She cut him off, "I'm glad you called." Her voice was soft, but full of sincerity.

Half of Lorelai's still drunken-brain fought to listen to Luke as he rambled on about things that took place the previous day, while on his trip away with April, and the other half of her functioning self desperately tried to recall the events of _her own_ previous day.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** I'll be fixing/going over every chapter, so hopefully it goes quicker, than this one (this chapter had a ton of re-edits done lol). But, the good, the bad and the ugly reviews are always welcomed. Y'all are awesome! _**\- KISF**_


	2. Awkward Homecoming

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 _P.S._

 _My disclaimer is always the same._

 **Authors Note:** Thank you all so much! The reviews and follows are very motivating and I am eternally grateful. I love how most of you fixated on the character Billy. That was a goal of mine, so great to see I accomplished that. Also I apologize for the first chapter lacking LL interactions. I promise this chapter will have more than just a call. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 2: Awkward Homecoming_

Lorelai threw a hand over her mouth in an instant at the sudden unwanted, boiling sensation deep within the pits of her stomach that desperately wanted to make its debut into the world. She quickly concluded that, that horrid feeling was caused by the immense amount of alcohol she had consumed last night, as she struggled to keep her feet planted beneath her.

She heard a faint sound of the ships horn blow as she clutched her stomach with her free hand, and felt it rumble angrily beneath her fingertips. She drunkenly felt her way over to the side of the ship. The rise and fall of the waves surrounding them caused not only the boat to sway back and forth, but the liquid in her stomach to churn as well.

As she made an effort to swallow down the warm pool of water that had made its way up her throat and into her mouth, she groaned in agony and slight annoyance as she heard the faint horn, sound off yet again in the distance. Sadly, her efforts went unnoticed as the heat from the alcohol blazed upward in warning of what was to come.

She bent at the waist, while she removed both hands from her mouth and stomach as she braced herself on the railing to expel the revolting heat of substance that no longer was a welcomed guest to her insides.

Once she felt every last drop had been released from her body, she unsteadily reassembled herself to an upright position as she allowed her eyes to gradually settle on a landmark to take in her surroundings.

When she finally let her dreary gaze come to rest on an object, and her once blurred vision had now cleared, she came face to face with one of Luke's sailboat canvas paintings. She remembered she told him he could hang it in the bathroom, since a sailboat couldn't sail without water and the bathroom had lots of it.

Her face took on a look of confusion as she came to grasp the fact that she wasn't on a boat, she was just looking at one.

The inside of her head felt like it was the sea vessel itself being rocked side to side by the waves that sloshed up against the perimeter. She unmistakably heard the annoyingly loud sound again, notifying all that were around of its presence.

She squeezed her eyes shut at the pounding of her heavy head that evidently could not be ignored, she realized the sound wasn't the ships horn, but the ringing of the phone that sat waiting to be answered. She groaned softly and felt her way back into her room.

Once she had somehow managed to reach her destination, she wrapped her fingers around her whining cell phone right before she plopped herself stomach downwards onto the bed. The incredibly unpleasant feeling of actually witnessing the world spin on its axis crashed into her at high-speed.

She didn't know whether she wanted to cry herself to sleep or die on the spot from the enormous sized anvil that she felt had landed on her head. All because she permitted her emotions to get the best of her, thus causing her to overdue the amount of alcohol consumption the previous night.

She flipped over onto her back and allowed her thumbnail to flip open her phone as she lifted it to her ear, "What?" she groaned hoarsely into the mouthpiece.

"Whoa!" Came the familiar gruff voice over the phone, surprised at her greeting, "Good morning to you too."

"Ughhh–" Lorelai groaned in response not quite piecing together exactly whom the voice belonged to as she still tried to prohibit the room to stay still.

"Lorelai?" came the unsure, and yet worried voice of none other than her fiancée.

Lorelai sat up quickly at the sound of his voice, only to regret it a second later as the blood rushed to her head and caused it to throb uncontrollably, making her groan out in pain and fall back onto the bed.

She felt as if she was on one of those weird corny rotating beds like in Austin Powers and she couldn't find the off switch for it. She braced a hand over her forehead as she gripped lightly at her temples to massage circles there.

"Lorelai?" Luke's concerned voice came through the line again seeking her response, "Are you okay?"

She tried to clear her throat, but the dry roughness caused her to wince at the sudden pain, "Luke?" She croaked out softly.

"Yeah, it's me." He said, smiling slightly into the phone, "Hey!"

She rolled her head to look over at her nightstand. When she saw a half a glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen sitting pretty, she breathed out "Thank God!" as she slowly sat up to retrieve the two objects.

"Miss me that much, huh?" He flirted, assuming her previous comment was towards him.

Lorelai grunted out in frustration as she reached for the ibuprofen bottle, only for it to be empty. She made a mental note to head over to Doose's after she checked in with Sookie at the Inn.

"Hmm?" She mumbled, slightly confused as she opted to take a sip of water. She brought the glass down away from her mouth as she registered his flirting and what brought it on, "Oh, uh, yeah. Yes, of course. Miss you." Lorelai stammered out, sounding much clearer thanks to the water.

"Good." He said with a smile still present in his voice, "Then this will be good news for you. April's teacher, Mr. Munster, just informed the rest of us that one of the students' grandmother passed away in her sleep last night. The family wanted to be there, which of course is understandable, so instead of coming home tomorrow morning, we'll be home in about 45 minutes or so. We're packing the kids on the bus now and we'll be heading out in five minutes." Luke finished with enthusiasm.

Lorelai's head was swirling with all the information he had given her, given the state she was still in. She looked over towards the alarm clock on the nightstand and it read 10:25am. She presumed that she must've fallen back to sleep after her crack of dawn conversation that morning with Luke.

Luke would be back in Stars Hollow a little after eleven o'clock, and she felt even worse than before he left. She needed to wake herself up and pull herself together before he could see her like this.

Lorelai could still taste the foul remnants of the limitless amount of coffee and tequila she chugged down just hours ago. And even at the mere _thought_ of both liquids caused her to involuntarily cringe. She sighed at the realization of her having to play _keep away_ and her _cat got my tongue_ bits all over again.

Her once sparkling eyes now full of misery, her witty word-filled mouth now silent and her once open and warm heart now pained and broken as it barricaded itself. The wretched feelings she was currently being subjected to were caused by the one and only man that she had allowed into her heart.

"That's great, Luke." She answered as she strained to add excitement in her voice, "Well, not about the grandmother part, but you coming ho-" she paused, cringing at the thought of knowing Luke still didn't even consider the house they renovated together as _their_ home, "I mean back. It's good you guys are coming back." She corrected and rolled her eyes at her own pathetic words.

"Yeah. Hey, are you feeling okay?" He asked a bit concerned with her hesitation.

She squeezed her eyes shut, mentally beating herself up for her cheerless sounding voice, "Yeah. Yeah of course." She answered quickly, "I uh, just have a headache, but I'll be fine." She reassured him as best as she could.

"Okay. You sure?" He asked, still a little skeptical.

"Yup." She answered trying to get away from the subject, while rolling her eyes at the fact that the one time in a _long_ time, he actually picked up on her emotions was when she doesn't necessarily want him to, "Hey Luke, I'm actually running late. I need to head out to the Inn for a bit to finish some things there and check in with Sookie-" she began.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I just figured I'd give you a heads up on the latest news." He said as his voice sounded a bit disappointed, which caused her to throw a hand, palm up as if silently asking him, _what the hell?_

She shook her head slowly, "No. That was good. I appreciate it." She replied, pressing her lips into a line.

"Okay. Well, I'll see you soon?" he asked.

"Definitely."

"Lunch? At the Diner?" he asked with a hint of hopefulness.

"Yeah sure, sounds good." She breathed, "I'll see you then."

"Okay great." He smiled again.

"Bye." She snapped her phone shut releasing a huge sigh, "Great."

She slowly willed herself out of bed and headed for the shower in hopes to wash away most of her drunken ruins, before attempting to set foot out the door.

She dressed in her beige and navy blue silk blouse, along with her navy blue slacks as she threw on her beige trench coat to top it off. She opted to keep her hair down pinning her long bangs back with bobbi pins, hoping it would alleviate the throbbing pressure that caused tightness on her head.

Once she was through with her usual morning rituals, she gave herself a once over in the mirror, before she lazily made her way to her jeep and headed towards the Inn.

* * *

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh. My. God!" Lorelai groaned into the palms of her hands as she sat on the stool, waiting for Sookie to pour her hot water into a mug, "Please tell me you have ibuprofen?" Lorelai asked, hopeful to rid her massive headache.

Sookie grabed the bottle from under the counter and handed a few pills to Lorelai, "Here you go, Sweetie."

Lorelai gulped down the pills with a sigh, "How?" she asked, lifting her face to look at Sookie.

"How what?" Sookie questioned as she refilled the mug in front of Lorelai.

"How could you have let me drink that much, to the point where I have to experience this wonderful state of hangover central?" she whimpered.

"Let you?" Sookie asked with a giggle, "Sweetie, you challenged anyone to an arm wrestling match if they even tried to get close to removing the glass from your hand."

"What?" Lorelai asked hesitantly as her face showed a terrified expression.

Sookie giggled with a slight wince, "Yeah Hon, and when no one wanted to take you up on your challenge, you crowned yourself, _Arm-wrestling Champion of the World_." Sookie recapped as she tried to hold back her smile.

"Oh-my-God!" Lorelai whined softly, embarrassed of her previously drunken tirade.

"It's okay. You were the talk of Lane's wedding." Sookie said, nodding encouragingly.

"Talk?" Lorelai looked towards Sookie as if she had seriously gone insane, "I was a raving lunatic, Sook." She retorted shamefully. Then a memory struck her as she gasped, "And that toast…" she groaned.

Sookie shook her head, "Don't worry about the toast. And you weren't a lunatic. You were a _character_ , honey. What's Stars Hollow if not a haven for colorful characters? You had everyone singing along with you as if you were an actual celebrity or something. " Sookie said, trying to console her.

Lorelai had her head in her hands again, "Is that supposed to make me feel good?" she muffled

"I've seen you wasted before, but never like this. I mean we had you chugging down coffee, but it was making you energetically wasted. Fun to watch, but still, it was a first."

"I should borrow the reception video to see what a fool I made out of myself. That way when someone comes up to me in the street and asks me what color I feel like today, I can tell them the exact shade."

Sookie giggled, "Yeah and check out your audition."

Lorelai snapped her head up and looked at Sookie with wide eyes, "My what now?"

Sookie winced again as she slowly informed, "Well when you spotted the videographer, you got suddenly very excited to film your audition tape for America's Next Top Model."

"Oh, my God!" Lorelai said, horrified, "I thought that was a dream. Oh God, the posing, the strutting, the inappropriate gyrating?"

Sookie pressed her lips together as she nodded her head, "All caught on video, and several of Zack's buddies' camera phones."

"Dear God, I'm probably all over the internet by now." She whined

"Nooo." Sookie replied weakly.

"They'll be calling me Stars Hollow's Train Wreck."

"And then after that… " Sookie began again.

"There's an _after that_?" Lorelai asked in disbelief

"You tried to start a secret club for _Super Cool Party People_ only, but Christopher and Rory scooped you up and got you home." She finished, "He got you in bed okay?" Sookie asked a little wary.

"Christopher?" she asked a little nervousness in her voice, "Yeah. Well he _and_ Rory. So um… is there anything else I did that I need to know about? I want to be fully informed." she said, exhausted from hearing about her shame filled night.

"No." she shook her head, "I told you everything."

Lorelai exhaled loudly, "Good." She nodded.

Sookie gave Lorelai an off look as if she was holding back something else.

"What?" Lorelai questioned cautiously, "Is there something else? Tell me." Lorelai said.

"No… well, I mean…" Sookie started a little hesitant, not wanting to overstep her boundaries.

"What is it, Sook?" Lorelai asked fearing the worse.

"Well, are you- you know… okay? You and Luke, I mean." She asked gaining a sharp intake of breath from Lorelai, "I mean, I know it's none of my business, but you know you can talk to me, right?" Sookie soothed quickly, trying to let her friend know she only wanted to help, "If you need an ear… or two." She gestured to her ears jokingly, "I'm here, Hon."

Lorelai smiled at her, "Thanks, Sook." She let out an exasperated breath, "I don't know. It's so…" she paused to think of a word, "I don't know. I really don't know what it is, but I think I need a break or like a small vacation, you know. Away from my problems, away from work, responsibility, stress, just _away_ from everything and… everyone." She told her friend softly, "Sort through my thoughts and have some alone time, you know? I mean I know I have that now, but I want to be able to process everything on my own…" She finished.

Sookie nodded understandingly, "Yeah. I know. You should do it. You deserve a break, Lorelai. Michel and I can handle things here just fine. You let me know when and we'll set it up. However long you need, you take it, sweetie." Sookie comforted.

"Thanks. I just might take you up on that. So don't be surprised if I come out of left field saying I'm out for a while." Lorelai said lightly, her words more of a warning than a joke.

Sookie giggled, "I've been warned."

Lorelai smiled in thanks, then suddenly remembered something… or someone, "Hey, do you happen to know a guy named Bob or Benny or Benji?" she asked, trying to recall the name she was unsure of.

"I know a few Bob's, no Benny or Benji's though. Why?" Sookie replied, curious in Lorelai's abrupt topic change.

"Last night, I _vaguely_ remember having a conversation with a man at the bar." Lorelai answered as she tried to recall the man.

"Oh, was he one of the _Yummy Bartenders_?" Sookie asked with a teasing smile.

"No." Lorelai shook her head, "He was just a guest." She looked as if in thought, "I remember he said he was born and raised here and he was visiting for a while." Lorelai began, trying to remember, "He had at least a decade on us. He was dressed comfortably, but nice." Lorelai briefly remembered that this man had reminded her of her fiancée in some ways, "Very casual, but it suited him. Construction boots, jeans, t-shirt and a jacket, but I remember he looked like James Bond, just with salt and pepper hair and stubble." She recapped distantly, purposely not mentioning the similarities with the guy and Luke.

"Ooouh! Double-O seven?" Sookie smiled appreciatively at the description, "Wait! Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan?" she asked for clarification.

"Pierce." Lorelai confirmed, "Definitely Pierce. He looked to be mid to late fifties. _Maybe_ , early sixties, but if so, sixty has welcomed him _very_ kindly." Lorelai said as she gave Sookie a pointed look, causing Sookie to raise her brows and smile, "He had this really low voice, it was pretty hot, actually." Lorelai laughed, "He sounded like… hmm…" she tried to think of someone in comparison besides Luke, "Oh!" She snapped her finger, "Sam Elliott." She said, giving Sookie the full picture.

"Ooouh!" Sookie nodded her approval, "Very sexy! How did I miss him?" Sookie asked in wonder.

Lorelai shrugged, "I don't know, but I was talking to him for a while at the bar."

Sookie's face contorted into confusion, "Really? I didn't see anybody with you."

"What?" Lorelai looked at her bewildered, "What are you talking about? I was talking with him for at least twenty minutes, minimum." Lorelai recalled

"Hmm are you sure- Oh! Wait!" Sooke remembered something, "Maybe you were talking to him, while I rushed over to get you coffee. I was gone for at least that long. I might've just missed him." Sookie suggested

Lorelai nodded uncertainly as she tried to piece together her memory, "Yeah. Maybe."

Just then one of the kitchen staff members walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, Ms. Gilmore and Mrs. St. James, but Harry Fredrickson is on the phone for you, Ms. Gilmore. He said he wanted to go over the new _billing_ policy for the linen deliveries. Mr. Gerard asked if I could get you, since I was on my way back here." He informed Lorelai.

"Billy!" Lorelai shouted as she remembered the visitor's name.

"You okay, sweetie?" Sookie asked, surprised at her sudden outburst.

"That was his name." Lorelai smiled, happy to have gotten a piece of her memory clarified, "Billy. Double-O's name was, _Billy_." Lorelai explained.

"Oh, Billy." Sookie nodded, "Hmm. Good name. Billy what?" she questioned, still not knowing any Billy's.

"Huh…" Lorelai stopped to think, "I don't know." She responded, shrugging her shoulder.

Sookie laughed, "Well, at least now you have a name to the face."

"Yeah, I guess." She said then turned towards the door, "Thanks Tim. Can you tell Michel, I'll be there in a minute?" She said, gaining a nod as he walked out to relay the message.

"Now if you'll excuse me," she faced back to Sookie, "I'm gonna go take care of this phone call, then head over to the place that is now _almost_ equivalent to the Gilmore manor."

"Excellent." Sookie gave a small smile, "Super cool party people bid you super cool adieu!" Sookie cheered, causing Lorelai to look at her in confusion, "That's how you were saying goodbye to people at the party." she explained.

"Super." Lorelai said lacking enthusiasm.

* * *

After finishing up her phone call with Harry the linen guy, Lorelai slowly headed over to the Diner. She really did miss Luke, but the old Luke, the loving, caring, gruff Luke.

 _Her_ Luke.

Either way she knew seeing him was inevitable and it wasn't like she could avoid him… right?

She rounded the corner and made her way up the steps opening the door, causing the bell above it to ring as it announced her arrival.

"Finally!" Came Luke's greeting, "I thought you forgot about me." Luke teased as Lorelai walked in.

"Forget you?" she played along, "How could I forget about you, Mike? I mean, Phil. I mean _Luke_." She gave him a smile as she teased him right back.

"Mmhm." He mumbled as he slipped an arm loosely around her waist to give her a quick kiss, only to pull away quickly.

He turned and made his way back behind the counter, before Lorelai could even reciprocate. "Really?" She asked as she held her arms out to the side furrowing her brows, "Almost two weeks away and that's all I get?" she asked him, obviously disappointed in the lack of affection from her man.

"I'm working." He stated on cue.

"And I'm a lady in waiting." She said, Luke laughed softly, but made no move. Lorelai pressed her lips together and nodded her head, "Yup, feeling the love, babe. Thanks."

Luke rolled his eyes and gave her a smirk, "Can I get you anything?" he asked, by passing her comment.

Lorelai made a face as if in thought, "Hmmm yeah, you _can_ actually. You can get me a boyfriend who will actually be happy to allow me to give him a proper welcome back kiss." She replied with a smile as she rested her elbows on the counter and placing her chin in her palms.

"Later." Luke replied briskly as he glanced around the diner, then back to her, "Besides, I'm not your boyfriend. I'm your fiancée."

Lorelai feigned surprised as she gasped, "Oh my God! Seriously?" she said then added, "And here I thought you had forgot that little fact." In a soft mumble.

"What was that?" Luke asked leaning in a bit.

Lorelai plastered on a smile as she replied, "Oh nothing." She replied, looking at him innocently, "I was just saying I'm gonna head into Woodbury to go shopping for some new clothes." She sort of lied.

"Oh yeah? Maybe I could come along. Keep you company." He suggested, causing Lorelai to look at him in shock.

"Really? You want to willingly come shopping with me?" Lorelai asked skeptically as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah." He shrugged, "I actually need to get a gift, so it works out perfectly." He says smirking at her.

"A gift, huh?" Lorelai asked with a smile. She thought he forgot about her birthday, what with him being on the trip and with April and because of the fact that he hadn't even remembered to tell her _Happy Birthday,_ instead he called to tell her about one of the math competitions April had done well in. "And who might this gift be for?" she asked him, a smile forming on her lips.

"April." He answered calmly, causing Lorelai's smile to drop instantly.

"April?" she asked, clearly confused by his answer.

"Yeah. I was dropping her off this morning and her mom had mentioned to me that she was taking her to her grandmother's to celebrate. She couldn't swing a party here with her friends, so I figured I know her friends now. Why not I throw her a party." He explained to her.

"You? Throw a party?" Lorelai questioned, still in shock.

"Yeah," He challenged a bit offended, "why not?"

"No–" She shook her head, "I think that's great." She recovered, pushing past her disappointment in him for forgetting her own birthday, "And um… I mean if you want a consultant, I've been known to throw some rockin' preteen parties in my time, so…" Lorelai began to offer.

"I think I can handle it." Luke dismissed her quickly and added, "I've got it under control."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay." She said softly, looking down to her lap, trying to mask her hurt eyes.

"What time did you want to go?" he asked, changing the subject with ease.

Lorelai to looked back up at him, "Um, whenever you're ready, I guess."

"Okay. I'm gonna let Caesar know, then we can head out." He informed her, "You want a cup to go?" he held up the coffee pot ready to pour.

"Uh- no thanks." She swiftly denied, "I'm good. I'm actually a little coffee'd out at the moment." She said, not going further into explanation.

"That's right." He put the pot down and smiled, "Battling the hangover." He teased.

"What?" She looked at him in surprise of his knowledge of her current state, "Did I mention my hangover?"

"No." He shook his head and nodded over towards Ms. Patty, who sat at the table nearest to her, "Patty filled me in."

"Oh." She said shortly, more embarrassed than anything, "Luke, I drank a lot and I said some things-" she began only to be cut off.

"It's fine." He waved her explanation off, "She said you turned the whole town into a raging concert show."

"Concert?" she asked, a bit lost.

"Yeah, I heard everyone sang along to the song as if you were Neil himself." He replied with a smile.

"Uh– yeah." She let out a nervous laugh, "You know me."

"And I heard you gave an audition for some modeling show. I'm gonna need to see that. I'm also gonna have to track down those guys that recorded it on their phones. That's for _my_ eyes only." He said, giving her a pointed look.

"Yeah. Yeah. You." She answered distantly, then suddenly, she shouted, "No!"

Luke reared his head back at her outburst, "No, what?"

"Um- no, don't watch the video." She started nervously as her eyes darted around the diner searching for a good enough reason.

"Why not?"

"Uhh because… why- watch the video when you could get the live thing?" She countered, applauding her quick thinking.

Luke smirked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded, pleased he took the bait, "Everyone knows the live show is always the best."

"Good." Luke nodded, "I look forward to it." He said, smiling, "I'll just be a minute, then we can go." He winked at her, just before he disappeared into the kitchen.

Once he was out of earshot Lorelai let out a deep breath and muttered, "Oh man."

* * *

"You doing okay over there?" Lorelai looked over at Luke as they walked along the sidewalk passing a few shops.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He responded, smiling like an idiot, "Especially after that last store."

"Well, I am a woman of my word." She said as they continued to walk.

"Yeah, I just thought you would've waited until we got back to your place, that way I could appreciate your display in private and show you just how grateful I can be." He answered with a smirk as he thought about how Lorelai had lured him into the fitting room to show off her choice of lingerie that then led to their impromptu heated make out session.

Lorelai winced at his mention of _her place_. He still didn't call it _home_. He didn't even consider it home.

She sighed audibly as she painted yet another fake smile upon her face, "Well once we're finished, maybe I could give you VIP access."

Luke flashed her a smile, then turned to look into a store window to his right, "What do you think of that?" he asked Lorelai as he pointed to a toiletry kit in the window display.

Lorelai scratched her head a bit, "Um… what do you mean?" she questioned him in confusion.

"What do you think of that as a birthday gift for April?" He asked in detail.

Lorelai looked at him as if he was crazy, "Umm… Are you uh," she cleared her throat, "trying to tell her that she smells?"

"What?" Luke snapped his head back to look at her, "No! Of course not."

"Well, that's the message you'll be sending her if you give that to her, especially on her birthday." Lorelai informed him.

"What are you talking about?" He shook his head, "It has cats on it. It's cute."

"Come on, Luke." Lorelai tried to gently urge him away from the hideous gift with words, "It'll say, _Happy birthday! Now go clean yourself up, Pepé._ "

"What?" he asked, not getting her joke.

"Luke, there are a lot more stores just a few shops over, why don't I take you and you can choose the perfect gift for April there." She encouraged, trying to help him and April.

"Why can't this be the perfect gift?" He asked gruffly, "I'm gonna get it."

Lorelai shrugged, "Okay, I'm just trying to help."

"I know and I know you're also an expert, but she's _my_ daughter and I know what she likes." He told her, with a hint of cold undercurrent in his voice.

"Okay, that's great, Luke." She tried to back up, "I'm just saying, I can help."

"No." His answer was short, but clear and he didn't look at her.

"What?" she asked, trying to see if she heard him correctly.

"No." He repeated, this time looking at her with firmness.

"Why?" Her voice carried the hurt that she automatically felt, with his curtness.

"Because," He shrugged stubbornly, "it's too soon." He explained shortly.

"Too soon." she repeated incredulity

"Yeah, because the minute you get introduced into her life, things for me will be all over." He stated in a matter of fact.

"What?" Lorelai's head was spinning, "Luke, what are you talking about? That's insane!" She said looking at him in shock at hearing his supposed logic.

"It's not insane." He fought back, "It's the truth. You're colorful and funny. You're practically a cartoon character. Kids love you. I wouldn't hang out with me either after meeting you. She'll like you better. That's just a fact." He reasoned haughtily, his face showing no remorse to his words.

"Luke?" She tried to object, "You're her _dad_!"

"Yes, I am and this is how I want it to be." He retorted, not leaving room for her to defend her reasoning.

Lorelai shook her head and looked away as she felt the heated wetness building in the backs of her eyes, "Okay." She surrendered softly, tucking a stray lock behind her ear.

Luke didn't even look at her, knowing if he did, he would back down and not get his wanted time _alone_ with _his kid_ , "I'll just be a couple minutes." He said as he pointed into the store.

Lorelai nodded, still not looking at him, "I'm gonna walk down there. Grab a water or something." She asked, not meeting his eyes as she started to slowly walk away, "You want anything?"

"No." He watched her walk away, "I'll find you." He told her.

Lorelai nodded as she headed off, further down the street not once looking back.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Hey guys, thanks for the continuous love. I'm finding that these first couple of chapters had a bunch of errors, so it's going a bit slower in editing, but as the chapters get higher, it should get easier, since I was actually trying to pay better attention to the little grammar things. You all rock and thanks again.


	3. Coincidental Concurrence

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Authors Note:** Sorry ya'll, _holiday fever_ kicked in. But thank you all so much! Your constant show of gratitude is very much appreciated. Seriously… I am eternally grateful.

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 3: Coincidental Concurrence_

Lorelai continued down the sidewalk, leisurely allowing her eyes to browse the displays in the storefront windows. Her mind was a wheel and she felt the hamster running for miles. She knew walking away from the conflict was best, because staying and arguing her case would've fell upon closed ears.

She made it about five shops over, before she finally spotted a bookstore to her right. She figured she'd check it out and possibly grab a magazine to busy herself in killing some time, instead of just sitting and waiting for Luke like a good little puppy.

Lorelai scoffed at the thought, "Not happening, Mr. Milan!" She mumbled under her breath as she stepped towards the entrance.

As she made her way into the store, her senses were instantly met with paper. The sight and smell of books enveloped her. She browsed around, looking at the various covers and titles, while also allowing herself to cool down.

She saw a shiny sliver sticker on an older looking book that was placed on the staff recommended shelf. She picked it up and scanned the synopsis in the back. She liked what she read and figured Rory would too, so she placed it in the crook of her arm and continued scanning the shelves.

Lorelai looked up and saw a display that read: _50% OFF_ , so she made her way over towards that corner.

Immediately her eyes were drawn to a book with pictures of beakers and smoke with the title reading: _The Way Things Work_. She flipped through a couple of pages in the book, trying to understand even a single word, until a clearing of the throat was heard to her left.

She looked up and her eyes came into contact with the sight of a short and stout girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, smiling back at her.

"If you're into science," the girl began cheerfully, "then that's a great book. It's the newest edition out. It has amazing examples, clear images and it even gives incredible detailed interviews with scientists who experimented with every topic on each page."

"Really?" Lorelai asked as she smiled back at the girl, "Well, it actually isn't for me, but a gift for my uh-" she cleared her throat quickly, "fiancée's daughter. She's apparently _really_ into science."

"Well, if that's so, then that would be a really awesome gift." The girl said pointing to the book, "You'll be her favorite person if you get that for her." The girl holds her smile.

"I guess I better get it then, huh?" Lorelai joked as she placed the book in the crook of her arm on top of Rory's.

"Yeah," the girl giggled, "and if you don't think that's enough, there's a little rotating stand up front with gift cards from a bunch of stores. You could add one of them with the book and sweeten the deal." The girl suggested, pointing out the stand to Lorelai.

"Thank you so much…" Lorelai smiled gratefully and looked to the girl's name tag clipped on her shirt, "Hailey. You're a life saver." Lorelai finished.

"No problem. Trust me, I know how important gift giving is, especially for the stepparent to their stepchild. My step-dad learned the hard way, but he got the hang of it after my mom told him cash was also acceptable." Hailey said, giggling a bit.

Lorelai gave a small laugh, "You sound like you've worked out a great system." She said thinking of how she probably wouldn't ever have that, what with the little spat she and Luke just had.

"Yeah." She smiled and shrugged, "Practice makes perfect."

Lorelai nodded lightly, "Well, thank you again Hailey. You've really been a lot of help. I'm gonna head up to the front and check out those gift cards you talked about." She said, pointing towards the cashier's desk.

"Better safe than sorry, huh?" Hailey hinted kindly.

"Yeah, you never know with these younger ones now days." Lorelai replied with a smile, before she headed up to the front.

Lorelai gradually glanced at all the different gift card options, spinning the stand slowly, until she spotted a white card with big bold red lettering that read; _The Discovery Store_. She remembered Rory loved that place as a kid and as a teenager, so she picked it up and made her way over to the counter.

As the worker rang up her items, she looked to her right and saw the magazines, she grabbed an _Us Weekly_ then a _Cosmo_ and just as she was about to turn, she saw a _Sports Illustrated_ with a picture of a baseball player on the cover, causing her to automatically think of Luke. She sighed heavily and grabbed it as well.

The cashier told her the total and Lorelai looked past the girl and saw a kitty cat gift bag. She squeezed her eyes shut and asked the cashier to throw it in as well. She purchased her items and smiled thanking the cashier as she made her way towards the exit.

Just as Lorelai pushed the door to the exit open she immediately squinted from the blinding glare that hit her eyes as she stepped foot out of the bookstore. Her now lacking sight caused her to bump into someone that unintentionally made her drop her bag.

"I'm sorry." She apologized as she bent down to retrieve her items, "I didn't see you there." Lorelai apologized to the man she had just bumped into, only for her apology to be brushed off as he kept walking unfazed and didn't even bother to help her up.

"Jerk." She mumbled under her breath as she continued to collect her items. Her hair fell, fanning around her face, briefly blocking her view of her surroundings.

She was about to resituate herself into an upright position when she heard a deep manly voice from in front of her ask, "You okay?"

She couldn't help as her brows rose at the recognition of the man's voice. She flipped her hair back and rose to her full height.

Looking into the warm emerald eyes of the owner of the voice. She smiled and breathed, "Billy."

Billy instantly smiled back, "You remembered." His deep voice rumbled out smoothly, truly impressed at her memory, considering what state she had been in during their exchange of introductory the previous night.

Lorelai's smile grew as she nodded, "Oh well of course. How could anyone forget you, Mr. Bond?" she teased.

Billy furrowed his brows in confusion "Pardon?"

Lorelai gave a small laugh, "Nothing." She replied as she waved it off.

His lips held slight curves as he spoke with her, "So you ditched the whole preservation club, then?" He asked, pointing towards the bottle of water in her hand.

Lorelai looked down at the bottle before she nodded, remembering a bit of their conversation from the other night, "Yeah. Ten shots of tequila had me breaking oath and giving in to the temptation." She joked, causing Billy to chuckle, which inadvertently sent a chill throughout her body at the deep rumbling sounds that spilled from his lips.

She inhaled sharply at the goosebump feeling that slowly slithered its way over her skin. The only person's laugh that was unknowingly contagious and caused her body to have that heart-warming and happy bliss sensation was Luke. Once again the similarities she unconsciously linked between Luke and Billy were numbing and yet oddly comforting.

"Umm…" She cleared her throat, "What are you doing in Woodbury? I thought you were staying in Stars Hollow?" she asked curiously, quickly shaking away her thoughts.

"I stopped off at the bait and tackle shop across the street." He explained as he pointed towards the store, "I'm headed out to the family cabin we have near the lake, just out past Beacon Falls. I'm gonna set it up for this coming weekend. Treating myself to a few days of fishing and relaxation." He informed.

"Wow, just like the original woodsmen." Lorelai joked

Billy nodded, "Yeah." He looked down at her bags, "What about you? Book shopping?" He asked, nodding his head towards the bag in her hand.

"Um, yeah." She smirked as she raised the bag in confirmation, "Browsing turned into buying. I went in intending to look at a magazine, then came out with a book for my daughter that she probably already read at least five times, a highly recommended science book that I have no clue to what it's about, a gift card to the discovery store to go along with the science book, this weeks sports catalogue and two girly magazines." She smiled as she listed the items off in her bag.

"Very dangerous combination." Billy smiled at her, "Women and shopping." He said, shaking his head.

"We go together like cake and ice cream." She shot back with a proud smile.

"Don't I know it." He agreed, "You said you bought a science book and a gift card? Someone's birthday?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah." She said, glancing at her feet briefly before continuing, "Did I mention my fiancée the other night?" she began, gaining a nod from him, "Well, I just found out it's his daughter's birthday tomorrow, so I saw a book with science things on it and the girl that worked there talked highly about it, so I got it. Just in case." She explained with a shrug.

Billy's brow arched, "The same daughter he keeps you from knowing?" he asked coolly.

Lorelai looked down again as she nodded, "That's the one." She replied, a bit embarrassed of how pathetic it made her sound

"Hmm…" Billy twisted his lips a bit and nodded his head, "Just in case?" he started again.

Lorelai sighed a laugh, "Yeah. My fiancée isn't exactly the best gift giver… well excluding me. Anyway, he's actually getting her a gift now. We had a little disagreement, which is the reason why I'm here and he's there." She briefly informed him.

"What happened?" Billy asked intrigued, knowing she had more things to let off of her chest.

"He said he wanted to get her a gift." She shrugged, "I told him I could help. He denied my help and is currently purchasing her said gift as we speak." She said, then smiled slightly as she added, He's getting her a toiletry kit."

"A what?" Billy asks in disbelief, thinking he must've heard her wrong.

Lorelai shook her head, "Oh don't worry, it has cats on it." Lorelei replied sarcastically, trying to hold back her smile.

Billy's brows raised in surprise as his mouth hung agape, "Wow." was all he could think to say.

Lorelai nodded, "I tried to tell him I could help. Seeing as I have a daughter that was once a teenager, so I have a bit of experience that may be beneficial to him, but he wouldn't have it. He literally laid out that he thinks it's too soon for me to get formally introduced to his daughter for the reason that when I do, it'll be all over for him." Lorelai let out in frustration, pushing past the fact that Billy was still a somewhat stranger, and yet she felt unperturbed with openly sharing her stressful thoughts with him.

"What does that even mean?" Billy asked a bit confused.

Lorelai's eyes grew wide; "Exactly!" she cried out indignantly.

"Let's go sit down." Billy said, pointing towards a few tables and chairs to the side.

They each took a seat across from each other, "He says if I get involved in his kid's life, then it'll be all over for him. He said I'm colorful, funny and flat out called me a cartoon character or something, like what the hell is that supposed to mean? Because it doesn't come off as a compliment." Lorelai ranted, "He went on saying that she'll pick me over him to hang out with. I told him that that was ridiculous because he's _her dad_. He pulled out his _'This is the end of this conversation'_ voice and said, 'Yes. I am her dad and this is how I want it to be.'" She finished, allowing her elbow to rest on the table laying her chin in her palm looking defeated.

"Jeez." he said softly, shaking his head as he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, "Where is he now?"

"At a store a few blocks back." She answered with a wave in the direction behind her, "I feel like I'm constantly on a stomach churning roller coaster ride with him. He's up, then he's down, then there's these recurring loops thrown in at unexpected times. He can't decide if he's hot or cold. I just can't- I can't keep up with him." she paused as she looked up to look Billy in the eyes, "I think… I really think I need a break." She sighed heavily at those words as they slipped off of her tongue permitting her shameful eyes to look off distantly.

Billy paused a bit, before he shrugged and suggested, "Why don't you take one?"

Lorelai's eyes snapped back to his as if that was out of the question. Billy arched his brow as if challenging her to fight it.

She sighed dejectedly knowing that that just might be the answer, "To be honest… I'm really considering it." She spoke low, as if she were almost afraid of those words that she had allowed to leave her mouth, "I just don't know how to tell Luke." She confessed softly, her blue eyes holding his emerald ones in an intense gaze, letting him know she was truly at a lost with what to do.

Billy inhaled a deep breath, before he exhaled slowly, "Tell him the truth." He replied as if it was that simple.

Lorelai's eyes showed pure panic, "What?"

"Tell him you think you need a break from everything. _Alone._ You need time to yourself to get your mind right." He supplied, trying to help.

"You make it sound so easy." She said lightly, before continuing, "He wanted to postpone the wedding a while back, because of this and I mentioned that I felt like it wasn't gonna happen anymore. He said that it was and everything was great for like… a couple of hours?" She tried to remember, "Then one mention of his daughter's name and he clammed up again. Robo-Luke came back into action, locked and loaded."

"There's a lot going on with the both of you. Just tell him you think taking a little time apart will be good for you _and_ him."

"Yeah?" Lorelei asked, clearly doubtful.

"Yeah." Billy answered, firmly reassuring her, "He can focus on his daughter and he can get the full affect of a few days or so without you."

"He just had that." Lorelei said gloomily, "He was fine and nothing changed."

"You two talked everyday?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah"

Billy nodded, "This time try no contact."

"What?" she asked as if it weren't allowed.

"Let him get the _full_ affect of what it would be like without you in any way. Not being able to see you, talk to you or touch you. Nothing… He's been shuttin' you out." He shrugged, "Well, let him have what he wants." Billy explained easily "Give him a taste of his own medicine, if you will."

"So, what you're saying is get revenge and make him deliberately suffer?" she asked, skeptical about the idea, for no matter what Luke was doing to her, she didn't want to intentionally hurt him. That would make her not only feel worse, but not help anything between them to get better.

"That doesn't sound too nice, huh?" he cringed a bit at her wording, "I guess, it's sort of in that way, but not really." He said as he tried to figure out a better way of wording what he meant, "You're not trying to hurt him purposefully or anything… You're just giving him what he wants." He said with a small encouraging smile, "What he's been continuously, without good enough reason" He pointedly emphasizes, "has been asking for…"

"Hmm..." Lorelei mumbled, looking off in thought as she gave the idea more consideration.

He held up his hands in defense, "But it's up to you." He said, making sure she understood that, "But can I make a suggestion?" He treaded lightly.

She nodded, "Please." She said, giving him her full attention.

He permitted his warm emerald pools to bore unwaveringly into her sparkling sapphire depths as he slowly breathed, "Take the break…" His deep voice thick with sincerity.

Lorelai sighed and gave him a sad smile as if saying she would definitely give it well deserved consideration.

"Well, I better get going." Billy flashed her a sympathetic smile, "Gotta beat the traffic." He said as he stood up.

"Oh right." She replied, a bit sad that he had to go, leaving her all alone again.

"I'll probably see you before the weekend, but if you need another session" he joked, "even if it's a short one… you come find me." He offered, still looking at her.

Lorelai nodded, then allowed her face to display confusion, "Where?" she asked not knowing where he was staying, since she knew it wasn't at the Inn, because before she left that morning, she checked.

"I'll be around." He replied smoothly.

"What if I need to talk and you're not around?" Lorelei asked, not knowing why exactly she felt compellingly comfortable with him to have had a second heart-pouring session with this man she had just met a day ago.

"Trust me." He smirked confidently, "I'll be around."

"That's what they all say." Lorelai half joked.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you very soon, Lorelai." He reassured her.

"Mmhm." She nodded aimlessly.

"Remember…" He looked at her pointedly, "Talk. Make him listen."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, I'll try." She said half-heartedly.

Billy shot her a wink, along with a small smirk, before he lifted his hand in a half wave and walked away, sending a round of chills down her spine at the familiar feeling that was once again smacking her across the face.

She squeezed her eyes shut trying to banish the irrational thought of comparing Luke to someone she barely knew and yet somehow felt so at ease with.

"Hey!" came the smooth, deep timbre against her ear sending yet another shiver down her spine, only this time it heated her to her core, warming her from the inside out.

Only one person was able to cause her to feel such an indescribable sensation and her lips instinctively curved into a smile as she allowed her eyes to gradually open, locking with his.

"Hey." She spoke softly. She craned her neck a bit to look in the direction that Billy had just walked in only to find it empty as if he had vanished once again, causing her to tilt her head in wonder, "Who is he, Houdini?" she whispered.

"Hmm?" asked Luke, not hearing her as he stood in front of her.

"Um nothing." She recovered, "You all set?" she asked quickly, changing the subject.

He nodded, "Yup. You?" he asked, gesturing to her bag as she stood up.

"Mmhm." She said shortly, not wanting him to ask any questions about what lay within the bag, "Ready?" she looked at him expectantly.

He pressed his lips and nodded his head, "Let's go." He replied

He wrapped an arm around her waist causing her to tense briefly at the sudden physical contact. He then squeezed her closer to him permitting her to relax. Only then did she allow her body to melt into him as they made their way back to the truck. Both of them deeply lost in their own thoughts as they rode in silence back to Stars Hollow.

As they got closer, and the _'Welcome to Stars Hollow'_ sign was in sight, Lorelai felt a wash of panic run over her. She didn't know what Luke's plans were for the rest of the day, but she concluded that it might involve her. She wasn't ready for the one-on-one alone time yet, slightly afraid she'd let something slip out of her mouth towards him that she didn't want out yet. Her mind raced frantically trying to come up with something to prolong their inevitable talk.

"Umm hey," Lorelai began, wringing her fingers together nervously, "I uh…" she paused briefly, causing Luke to glance over at her, "I have to head back to the Inn." She let flow out as her eyes looked around, searching for more words, "I have a stack of paperwork that needs to be filed into the computer system and Michel gets very angry when he can't figure it out, so to avoid having to replace a computer and save my sanity, I volunteered to finish it." Lorelai explained, internally applauding her rapid-fire brain process as it came up with a well sounding reason at the drop of a hat.

"Oh." Luke looked back to the road, "Okay." He said with a hint of disappointment, "I thought you were off for the rest of the day and I figured we could spend some time together."

"I know." At the sound of his disappointment, Lorelai felt a string of her heart tear, "I'm sorry, hon, but it was last minute reservations and loggings that I just can't trust Michel with." She said softly unable to make eye contact with him.

"Oh. Well, can't someone else do it?" he asked, his eyes hopeful.

Lorelei shook her head, "The only person who knows how to input things right now is me since, Adam is off today and Greg is out sick." She sighed, feeling so much weight on her shoulders "I promise I'll make it up to you.

He sighed heavily, showing his obvious disappointment, "Okay." He nodded shortly as he pulled up to the Inn, "You want me to meet you at your place later?"

Lorelai couldn't stop the small scoff at hearing him again refer to the home they renovated _together_ as _her_ place, "If you want, but I don't know how long I'll be so…" she faded out, hoping he'd catch her hint that she didn't expect him there.

Luke nodded, "Um okay… Well, maybe I'll just see you tomorrow, then." He said, casting his eyes down.

Lorelai felt another string of her heart tear as she saw the hurt expression on Luke's face, she was so conflicted with what to do, but she knew she needed to process out a plan before she sat down alone with him.

"Hey," she said softly as she reached out to take his hand in hers, "You know I'm still here."

"I know." He whispered, looking up at her.

"Like always." She squeezed his hand.

He nodded, "I know."

"I just need to-" she began.

"I know." He said, cutting her off as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze back, "Go."

"I'll see you tomorrow." She reassured him with a small smile.

"Yeah. You will." He leaned forward to meet her in a kiss. He captured her bottom lip between both of his as he gently suckled on it for a long moment. He allowed his tongue to glide along her lip, then placed a soft kiss on her nose, before pulling back and returning her smile.

He could always make her heart flutter with just a simple kiss. She never understood how, but he was the only man that was able to do so. She reached for the handle and pulled the door open stepping down and pushing it shut, leaning on it peering into the open window.

"I'll drop by in the morning if I get up early enough, if not I'll see you later." She said, holding her small smile.

Lorelai saw a look of apprehension wash over Luke's face in an instant as he said, "Oh. Umm" He cleared his throat nervously, "Well, tomorrow is April's party thing, so if you don't make it into the diner in the morning, then I'll call you after the celebration and we can have dinner or something." He said, not so subtly hinting to Lorelai that she wasn't to come by during the same time April would be present in the diner.

Lorelai averted her eyes quickly, attempting to mask her pain stricken eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Sure." She replied faintly as she pushed off of the door to stand straight. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and shuffled her feet, "Okay, well, I've gotta get inside, so I'll talk to you later." She looked up to him, pressing her lips together.

He nodded and sent her his signature half wave and smirk, that caused a warm wave of guilt and pleasure to wash over her. She turned on her heels and swiftly walked up the stairs and into the Inn as he drove away. She released an exasperated sigh and trudged her way into the kitchen.

"Ughhh!" She groaned loudly, resting her chin in her palm and her elbow on the counter as she plopped down on the stool near the island counter top.

Sookie giggled at her friend's hysterics, "What's the matter, Sweetie?"

"Him!" she cried out, "He's just so- When he did- and then he said- Gahhh!" she growled out in frustration, unable to complete a sentence.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lorelai, sweetie, calm down! Breathe" Sookie said, putting a hand on Lorelai's shoulder. Lorelai took a few deep breaths, "Good." Sookie nodded, "Now… start again and try to make sense this time."

Lorelai inhaled deeply, before she briefed Sookie on everything that had happened that day up until she had walked through her kitchen door, including her run in with Billy.

"I mean, just when I think he's letting me in again, then wham! He shuts the door back in my face. I swear, I cannot keep up with him anymore." She let out in aggravation, but did a double take when she saw Sookie holding back a smile, "Why are you smiling? This isn't funny, Sook! I'm really going crazy here."

"I know, I'm sorry, honey, and I completely agree with you. I'm just finding it a bit odd." Sookie said as she sprinkled garnish on a few dishes.

"What? What do you find odd?" Lorelai began, "The fact that I'm a minute from ripping my hair out or the fact that Luke is this completely different guy?"

"Well yeah, all of that and the fact that Billy ' _just happened to be at the same place at the same time_ '," she raised her hands to use air quotes, "as you." She lightly teased.

"Sook, come on." Lorelai began tiredly, knowing where Sookie was going.

"What?" She shrugged, "I'm just saying, what a coincidence."

"Okay first of all," Lorelei held a finger up, "Billy was across the street at the fishing store or whatever. Second, you know I only have eyes for Luke… Even if his, has long moved on." Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"His eyes have not moved on." Sookie scolds, pointing the knife she held in her hand up towards her.

Lorelai's brows shot up in surprise as she took a frightened step back, "Easy there, Loretta!"

"Whoops!" Sookie looked down at her hands and swiftly dropped the knife on the counter, "Sorry, honey! But you know that Luke doesn't want anyone else, right?"

"I just feel like… He's maybe taken on too much. I mean, he's very talented in _many_ things," She said, causing Sookie to giggle, "but he can't balance too many plates at once, if you know what I mean? Have you ever seen him at work?"

"Yeah." Sookie answered sadly, "But, you know he doesn't want another woman. I mean you have to know that at least. Lorelai the guy has been so into you and only you, for forever." She pushed

"Maybe…" she sighed dejectedly, "Then again… maybe he just can't handle it all… Maybe he doesn't want any woman at all right now." She shared dully.

Sookie shook her head vigorously, "No Lorelai, no! Luke wants you, he's just all jumbled up with April. He'll come around eventually." Sookie tried to soothe.

"Yeah…" Lorelai looked up into Sookie's eyes, "Eventually." She breathed defeated, "Sook… I think I'm gonna need some time off."

Sookie swallowed thickly, "Yeah, sure sweetie, of course." She replied consolingly, knowing that was probably the best case scenario.

"I don't know exactly when, but just know it'll be soon. I'll find a way to work from wherever I choose to stay."

"What? No, you need to relax. That means _no_ working." She scolded.

"No, Sook, working will put my mind at ease a little. Knowing I'm able to have some time to myself, all while not letting things pile up will oddly soothe me. I still want to hold up my end of the responsibilities." Lorelai said evenly.

"But, Lorelai-" Sookie began, only to be cut off.

"Honey, I'm so grateful that you want to allow me this time without work, but…" she shrugged, "the world doesn't stop just because someone has a bad day. And just because my bad day is more like bad _days,_ that doesn't mean I can put everyone else's life on hold just so I can pick up the pieces from mine."

"I know, but-"

Lorelei shook her head slowly, "Sook." she said calmly, showing her a smile, "I'll be fine."

Cookie sighed, knowing her efforts were good, but useless, "Alright…"

Lorelai moved over to her and hugged her friend in a tight embrace, "Thank you. You're the best friend a girl can have." Lorelai said softly as she released her.

"You better remember that when Jackson and I can't find a babysitter." She joked, lightening the mood.

"You got it. Say the word and it's, Aunt Lorelai to the rescue." She smiled.

Sookie giggled, "Okay, well just let me know when the dates are and we'll have everything set."

"I will."

"And you have to let me know where you decide to stay."

"I will, Sook." Lorelai smiled at her concern, "I'm gonna get things prepared just in case. I'll be in my office."

"Okay. Remember now." Sookie pointed to her ear.

"I know." Lorelai smiled, "You got two. Thanks Hon."

Sookie nodded as Lorelai exited the kitchen.

She made her way into her office and plopped herself on her chair as she exhaled an exhausted sigh. She had so much to do and they didn't even include the whole Luke thing yet. Luke was a whole other situation and she couldn't think about him right now. She needed to get everything situated as best as she could so she could allow herself to take the much needed time away.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Hey readers, I hope to retain your interest. It's a slow, but steady build up lol. Thanks again to all of you who have read, reviewed and followed. You guys rock!


	4. Rescue Squad

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** I really am so grateful to all of you who have been continuously reading and reviewing.

Just a heads up, I threw in a little of 6.21, so pardon me if you feel as though you're lost or I skipped ahead. Trust me there is a reason for the blend. Okay, now with that said, here is chapter four… Enjoy!

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 4: Rescue Squad_

After another long and restless night alone, Lorelai finally peeled her eyes off of the ceiling. She looked over at her clock on her nightstand and sighed as she got up and headed towards the shower. She welcomed the hot water as it cascaded over her tense and aching muscles.

She slipped out of the bathroom after completing her morning routine. She grabbed her purse and the kitty cat package from the hallway desk that she had set up the night before, along with her keys and phone, before she made her way out the door.

As she arrived to the Inn, she proceeded directly into the kitchen, passing an aggravated Michel as he barked angrily into the phone about milk.

"Sookie emergency." Lorelai whimpered, "I'm crashing." She added as she dragged herself further into the kitchen, placing her purse and the gift bag on the counter.

Sookie pointed towards the coffee maker, "Fresh pot, sweetie."

Sookie glanced over at Lorelai. It was no secret to what her best friend was feeling at the moment. Sookie continued prepping breakfast for the Inn and carefully started conversation, "So, I'm gonna assume you skipped Luke's this morning?"

"Not entirely." Lorelai answered, slightly shaking her head, "This," She motioned towards her freshly poured cup of coffee, "is just the warm up."

"I'm making a batch of brownies for you. We'll call it a pastry substitute." Sookie told her causing, in hopes of getting Lorelai to smile.

At that moment Jackson burst into the kitchen through the back entrance asking to speak to his wife alone. Sookie excused herself and at that moment, Lorelai's phone began to buzz in her back pocket.

Lorelai groaned as she placed her cup on the island and reached for her phone. She inhaled a deep breath, steeling herself for the caller, before pressing the _talk_ button.

"Hi mom?" she answered. She didn't even bother to put any effort into a witty greeting.

"How soon can you get here?" Came the panicked voice of Emily Gilmore

"What?" she asked, confused by her mother's frantic acknowledgment.

"How soon can you get here?" Emily repeated

"What are you talking about, mom?" she asked at a lost

"Tell me your father called you." Emily rushed out, "Did he not call you?"

"Umm…" Lorelai stammered, unsure of how to answer, knowing very well that she hadn't received a call from her father recently.

"Oh for heavens sake!" she groaned, "He didn't call."

Lorelai knowing the wrath of Emily, tried to cover for her father, "No he did, but when he called, I was still half asleep, so I wasn't really paying attention." She came out with, "Now, since I have you on the phone, why don't you tell me what it was you needed mom."

"The lasik surgery went bad and I am all alone here. I desperately need to run errands today, so I need you to drive me." Emily explained.

"Mom, I don't know. I have a business to run." She shut her eyes in an attempt to calm herself, knowing what she was going to get rooked into, "There's absolutely no one else that can help you?"

"I don't remember being in labor for fourteen hours with anyone else, so no, there's no one else."

Lorelai rolled her eyes at Emily's exaggeration, "I'll be right over, mom."

Emily sighed, "I'll be waiting. Alone and blind." Her dramatics raring high

"Bye, mom."

Sookie walked back into the kitchen looking a little nervous. Lorelai watched her with furrowed brows, before she asked, "Is everything okay, Sook?"

Sookie snapped her head toward Lorelai, "What? Oh yeah." She tried to play cool, "Yeah, yeah. Fine, everything's fine." She rambled nervously, "You heading over to Luke's?"

Lorelai brushed off Sookie's awkwardness and shook her head, "No, that was my mother. Apparently, her lasik surgery went badly and now she can't see. I 'm gonna head over there to help her out."

"Aw is she gonna be okay?"

"Yeah she should be fine," Lorelai waived off, "but she has errands to run, that she was desperate to get done."

Sookie giggled, still a little distant, "Is there anything I can do?"

Lorelai shook her head as her eyes looked around in thought. The gift bag that was sitting next to her purse suddenly caught her eye. She turned to look back at Sookie and nodded yes as she sighed, "Actually, yes. It's a _big_ favor." She started, wincing a bit.

"Yeah sweetie, name it."

Lorelai reached for the bag and clutched it to her chest, "Could you take this over to Luke's for me, but _not_ have him see it?"

Sookie looked at her confused, "Wait, what?"

"I got this gift at a bookstore for April for her birthday and Luke doesn't know… and I kind of wrote that it's from him on the tag… without his permission." She finished waiting for Sookie's reaction.

Sookie still looked confused, "Is it a gag gift or something?"

"No."

"Then why can't Luke know about it?"

Lorelai sighed, "Because I really think April will like it."

Sookie rested her hands on her hips, "I'm lost."

"It'll be the perfect gift and Luke didn't originally get it, hence the reason I was gonna try to drop it off without him seeing." Lorelai snapped her finger, "Wait a minute! This is actually better, now you can go into Luke's, you can drop off the present while there are some gifts already on the table and it'll look like the gift was from one of them." She finished with a smile.

Sookie giggled, "I still think this doesn't make any sense, but okay hon, of course I'll do it."

"Yes! Thank you so much, Sookie!" she said handing over the kitty cat bag "Just be sure that _no one_ sees you dropping it off. Especially Luke, okay?"

"Of course, sweetie. You can count on me." Sookie began to run in place with her arms out wide playfully, while she sang, "I'm a karma karma karma karma karma chameleon."

Lorelai laughed, "Thanks, Hon!"

"No problem. I'll even have that batch of brownies I promised you, waiting for you when you get back."

Lorelai picked up her purse and made her way towards the door shooting a smile over her shoulder, "Can't wait!" and with that Lorelai made her exit towards her jeep heading toward the Gilmore Manor dreading what her mother's errands consisted of.

* * *

Lorelai had gotten to her parents in record time. Just as she had put the car in park her phone called out for her attention. She looked at the screen display and squeezed her eyes shut tightly before flipping the phone open, "Hey." She breathed.

"Where are you?" this time the frantic voice was of her fiancée, "I called the Inn looking for you and Michel said you left and he didn't know where to, then Sookie dropped by just a few minutes ago. I came out of the kitchen just in time to see her leaving, so I stopped her and asked where you were and all she said was she was here to relay the message that you had to help your mother. Something about a bad surgery? Is everything alright?" he asked ending his rant.

"Yeah, Luke everything's fine." Lorelai replied, "Sorry I wasn't able to let you know myself, but my mom just had a bad reaction to the eye surgery, so I'm here to help her, since my dad is on a business trip." She explained, but she paused as she recalled a piece of his rant, "Wait, why were you calling the Inn for me?"

"It's a disaster!" he answered.

"What is?" She asked, confused, "The Inn?"

"No. The party. April's birthday party. The one I'm throwing for her. They're falling asleep. The party is a dud. I don't know what to do." He rushed out.

"Well, why don't you liven it up?"

"I don't know how to do that. They're girls. I thought they could just talk themselves to death."

"Oh Luke." She shook her head, not surprised at his cluelessness.

"I know. Can you help me?" he asked desperately.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at the fact that he only wanted her involvement when he was stuck or felt as if he was failing, "Luke I can't. I told you I have to help my mother. She'll have my head if I leave her alone for another minute. She can't see a thing."

"But I need you."

Lorelai winced at the oozing sound of desperation in his voice, attempting to rip it's way though her barrier. She sighed heavily, "Just… hold on."

"You're on your way?" his voice lifted within a split second.

"Just hang tight, until I can figure something out." She replied, shaking her head at her resolve.

"Okay. Hurry before they start leaving."

"Bye." She replies hanging up.

Lorelai bit her bottom lip as she furiously tried to think up some kind of plan to help Luke. She remembered Billy's words playing in her head saying; _give him what he wants. If he wants time alone, then give him that_. Lorelai shook her head knowing that she couldn't do that. That would have to wait until she actually built up the courage to tell him about her idea of a break. Suddenly a light bulb went off as she flipped open her cell once more and dialed swiftly.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Dragonfly, Jackson had left Sookie with strong smelling trash bags, filled with the subject from their frenzied discussion earlier. Sookie got to baking immediately, pouring loads of the subject into the brownie batter as inconspicuously as possible.

* * *

Lorelai had finished up her phone calls with Allison, scheduling Leslie and herself to crash the snore fest at Luke's with makeover madness. She also called Kirk asking if he could head on over to Luke's to set up while the girls were busy and to show _Pretty In Pink_ after the girl's festivities.

She also called Doose's and got in contact with Jaime, one of the long time clerks and asked if she could take over loads of junk food. She told all of them to bill her and she would come to settle it as soon as she got back home.

Lorelai got out of her jeep and made her way up to the door where she repentantly opened it and walked inside.

"Mom?" she called out

"In here." Came Emily's damsel voice.

The house was practically pitch black, Lorelai had to squint to carefully make her way towards the sitting room. Lorelai finally spotted Emily lounged on one of the couches.

"Oh I'm sorry, Count, but I was looking for my mother." She joked lightly

Emily exhaled exasperatingly "Will you at least keep your comedy act to a minimum of five minutes at my funeral?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Sorry, mom."

* * *

Back at Luke's, Leslie, Allison, Jordan and Melanie came bounding into the doors, each holding arm loads of baskets, one for each girl that were stuffed to the rim. The women set up a few tables, aligning the baskets evenly.

"Luke?" Allison called to him.

"Yeah. Hi" he replied.

"Lorelai called and set everything up, so we'll get started as soon as you're ready." She informed him.

"Okay great! Well, I'm not getting any make-up put on, so I guess it's whenever you four are ready, because I have no clue what to do. I was gonna head in the kitchen to get the food set up for later." He said, clasping his hands together.

"Okay sounds good." She said then turned to prep her staff

Kirk came striding into the door with a projector. He set it down on the counter and turned to look at Luke, "Good evening, Luke!"

"How ya doin', Kirk?" he replied nicely in his gruff tone.

"I'm fine thank you very much for asking." Kirk answered, causing Luke to roll his eyes at him staying in business mode "Lorelai called and I have everything, I just need you to point out where to set it up."

"You can set up your stuff right over there, Kirk." Luke pointed to the spot right in front of the window connecting the diner and the soda shoppe. Kirk nodded and got to work.

Jaime and Joe came through the door seconds later. Jaime held up bags full of candy and junk food, while Joe had his arms full of pizza boxes stacked covering his face.

"Hey Luke!" Joe greeted from behind the boxes.

"Hi Luke! Lorelai called and we're delivering." She smiled politely

"Wow!" He said smiling slightly, "She really went all out, huh?"

"Well, Lorelai said junk food, and Joe happened to be in the market and he over heard and knew that any party Lorelai Gilmore was throwing wouldn't be complete without his pizza, so I told him tag along." Jaime explained.

"Yeah great!" Luke nodded, "That's perfect. You guys can set everything up on the counter."

Luke turned around and smiled widely seeing the party instantly livening up. He was truly grateful for his fiancée's party planning skills. He was so caught up in assisting the adults that it went unnoticed that a certain thirteen year old was standing just two feet away and heard every word each adult had spoken.

* * *

Lorelai huffed, feeling drained of her last ounce of energy. She felt as if she'd been driving Emily everywhere in Connecticut for what felt like days. She pulled up to the curb in front of a real estate building.

Lorelai sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day as she asked, "Okay mom, what's next?"

"You don't have to say it like that, Lorelai." Emily responded calmly

"Mom, I just spent the last hour and a half watching you get a manicure." She retorted as she put the car in park.

"It was my standing appointment, Lorelai."

"Yes, except I was the one doing the standing, since there weren't any seats." Lorelai said pointedly

"Oh stop your hysterics, Lorelai and come on. Lock the door. I'm leaving my bananas in the car." She said stepping out onto the curb gracefully.

Lorelai walked around the car and met Emily in front of the real estate building, "This is a real estate building, mom." Lorelai stated as she pointed to the building.

"Yes, very good, Lorelai." Emily rolled her eyes, "I would give you a reward for your sharpness, but I left the bananas in the car."

Lorelai's mouth hung agape, "Oh my God, mom, did you just call me a monkey?"

"Lorelai, close your mouth. It's unladylike." Emily told her, ignoring Lorelai's question, "Now come on, this is the last stop." She said, moving in the direction of the door.

"You realize we're in Beacon Falls?" she asked, trailing alongside her mother.

"I told you the bananas are in the car, Lorelai." Emily said, taking another dig at Lorelai with ease, "What's your point?"

Lorelai shook her head, "We've driven just almost as far as Stars Hollow, mom. Now I'll have to boomerang it and drive you all the way back to Hartford just to come back."

"I'm sorry my illness is an inconvenience to you. I promise next time I'll rent a sled and have dogs pull me to my errands." Emily spoke calmly, "Now, come on."

Lorelai opened the door for her mother and allowed her to walk in before she followed. Just as Lorelai was about to ask once again what they were doing at a real estate office she heard a voice greeting Emily.

"Emily!" the woman smiled warmly, taking Emily's hand in hers to shake briefly.

"Lorene, hi!" Emily greeted, "I'm sorry if we're late. I had this awful lasik surgery yesterday and today has been a nightmare."

"Oh, I hope you're okay."

"She's fine." Lorelai interjected

Emily gestured to Lorelai, "Lorene, this is my daughter, Lorelai." The women smiled their hellos, "We are anxious to see those pictures."

"What pictures?" Lorelai asked, lost on the topic.

"Alright, if you would just follow me back, I'll begin with the presentation." Lorene replied, guiding them into a large cubical.

"Mom?" Lorelai questioned, uncertain of what was happening. Emily sat and motioned for Lorelai to do the same.

Lorene then began speaking again, "So, I talked to the owner, and he said that they would be willing to throw in any of the furniture or appliances that we might like, completely up to you."

"That's wonderful!" Emily said with a smile

"Why is that wonderful, mom?" Lorelai asked still confused

"Go on, Lorene." Emily nodded

"Anyhow, the pictures are pretty complete, but I can get us in this weekend if you would like to take a closer look for yourself?" she paused in question

"Do you, mom? Do you want to take a closer look?" Lorelai interrupted again, trying to get information.

Lorene continued at Emily's silence, "This is only the second time that this house has been on the market in 100 years. It's got 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths with a library, a sun porch. It's on 3 acres with a very small what they call a fishing hole, which is really a little pond, but it's very charming, and it has stables for horses or potential to convert the space into a workshop or personal spaced preference. The roof is in good shape, but I think that the plumbing will need some updating. But the sellers are motivated, and I think it's a pretty special property." She finished with a smile.

"I do too." Emily nodded and flashed a smile of her own, "What about you?" she asked turning to Lorelai, "Lorelai?" she called at no response.

"Why are you looking at this house, mom?"

"Lorene can you give us a minute?" Emily asked politely

"Of course. I'll just be over here if you need me." She said excusing herself

Emily turned back to Lorelai and asked, "Well? What do you think?"

"Mom?" Lorelai began slowly, "What's going on?"

"I will tell you as soon as you tell me in your honest opinion what you think." Emily bartered

"It's fine." She shrugged, not wanting to look at the house that looked exactly like the house in her dream.

"Fine? Just fine?"

"It just doesn't look like your style, mom."

"I asked for your opinion, Lorelai."

Lorelai got up and carefully allowed her eyes to leisurely rake over each board that was filled with pictures of the house. Lorelai gasped slightly at the picture of the large magnificent kitchen with the gas range oven in the middle of an island that had stools on the opposite side. She moved to the next board and saw the picture of the maple finished staircase and the huge wrap around porch. She pressed her fingertips to her lips, holding in how deep this place hit her. This place was _thee_ place, the exact house from her dream. It even had a pond and a huge yard. It was beautiful. It was _perfect_.

Lorelai moved her hand away from her mouth and spoke softly, "It's perfect."

Emily smiled in satisfaction, "Good…" she paused, "It's for you."

Lorelai whipped around to look at her mother in shock, "Me?"

Emily nodded, "Well, you and Luke. As a wedding present, your father and I figured that you wouldn't let us throw you a wedding, so this was the next best thing. Now I know this might seem like a lot, but honestly Lorelai, this is the least we can do. And I know you love your house, but it isn't big enough for when you have children. I mean, if you have more children. I also know that Luke might take a bit more effort in convincing, but I think he'll love the place and maybe overlook the fact that it's a gift. It's not actually in Stars Hollow, but it's right on the border. It's only an extra 10 minutes to the inn and an extra 5 minutes to the diner. I really think this will be great for the two of you."

Lorelai was on the verge of tears. She couldn't believe that her parents had wanted to buy Luke and herself a house. All that running around in Stars Hollow was for her not them. She looked back at her mother, then again to the pictures. An idea struck her, she thought of her need to escape. This place would be just right, and it helped that she absolutely loved it. But she also knew that she needed to tell her mother the truth.

Lorelai turned to Emily as she sat next to her, "Mom, I love this house."

"Wonderful!" she commented

"No, wait hold on." She held a hand up to freeze her mother's glee as she exhaled in thought, "Okay umm… Oh, remember how you and dad split up a little over a year ago?" she began.

"Yes. Wait have you and Luke split up?" she asked in panic

"No!" Lorelai reassured, causing Emily to sigh in relief, "I'm just… sad."

"Sad?" Emily repeated, at a lost.

"Yeah, like all the time." Lorelai revealed, "I really need time to myself. Alone. To process and re-energize. I feel like I'm all out of juice. I'm spending most of my energy on pretending. I'm tired of self-pitying myself and I want to take a couple of days or maybe even a week or two, to just relax. I want to tell you everything and explain to you what is going on, but I feel so tired right now that it probably wouldn't come out right." Lorelai explained, "I want to take a break. Not from life or work, but from my relationship with Luke. Like I said nothing permanent, but I want him to have time as well without me, so he can figure out what it is he wants. He's been pushing me away and I'm about broke on ideas of what to do." She vented to her mother, in hopes she wouldn't go too hard on the _'I told you so's.'_

Emily listened attentively in silence as her daughter spoke. She hadn't been aware that Lorelai was carrying around this burdening weight upon her shoulders and she wanted to do anything to help, for even though she still didn't necessarily scream for joy when it came to her daughter's choice for her forever man, she knew her daughter had never behaved or loved a man that much or ever for that matter. Lorelai devoted herself to Luke just like she devoted herself to Richard.

Emily finally spoke up, "Well, it's a good thing we can get you into the house by this week then."

"What?"

"You love this house, yes?"

"Yes, but-"

"You said it was perfect."

"Well, yeah I did, but-" Lorelai began only to be cut off once more

"Then it's settled. We'll have Lorene draw up the paperwork along with setting up the owners to fix everything and you can have the house ready to relax."

"But, mom-" Lorelai tried again

"Lorelai, please… Let me do this for you. Your father and I… please? I know we haven't been exactly cheering happily for you and Luke, but we really do just want to see you happy, and we know that he's the only man that you want that happiness with. So let us help you have your time to process." Emily spoke with sincerity

Lorelai wiped at her eyes, "Thank you, mom." She whispered

Emily nodded, then spoke up after a moment of silence, "I think you're very brave, Lorelai. You are a wonderful woman and this idea is a good one. You know what they say; absence makes the heart grow fonder. Let's just hope Luke isn't as slow as he used to be." She finished and headed to fetch Lorene. Lorelai puffed a small laugh and shook her head and looked back at the boards containing the beautiful pictures of the dream home.

* * *

The party was a success. All of the girls had departed with the arrival of their parents, leaving Luke and April to clean the mess.

"You don't have to help. It's your birthday." Luke told her as he lifted the now full bag of trash from the bin. "Go sit down, I've got this."

April nodded distractedly. She walked over to the curtain that led to Luke's apartment and reached for her bag that was at the bottom of the stairs. She brought it out to the front door and dropped it just to the side. April plopped herself down in a chair still lost in thought.

Luke looked over at her as he saw her face contorted in confusion, "Is everything alright, April?" he asked, putting the trash bag down on the opposite side of the door.

April broke out of thought and looked up to Luke, "Yeah, just thinking." She answered, her face blank not showing any emotion.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked, taking up the seat across from her

April didn't give a yes or no answer, but instead just trudged on, "Lorelai." She began easily.

Luke furrowed his brows, "What about Lorelai?" he asked confused

"She's your fiancée?" she stated more than asked.

"Um, yeah." He confirmed, "I mean, yes. Yes she is." He narrowed his eyes, curious to why she brought up Lorelai, "But you know that. You met her that one time here in the diner and you met her daughter, Rory in Philadelphia, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." April nodded slightly, "She helped you with the party today." She stated, not even feigning uncertainty.

Luke looked a little taken aback, "Um…" he cleared his throat nervously, "What uh- what makes you say that?"

"Allison, Kirk, Jaime and even Joe mentioned her name when they came here. They all said the same thing. Lorelai called and set things up for them to come." She told him easily, "She helped you. To make you happy, so you could make me happy." She added, "Which you absolutely did."

Luke looked down knowing he was caught, "Um, yeah. Yeah she helped me out a lot, even when she didn't have to." He swallowed thickly, "She knew it would make me happy to see you happy."

"That was very nice of her." April commented

Luke nodded, "Yeah well, that's Lorelai." He confirmed, pressing his lips together.

"Did she not want to come?"

"Uh no." Luke shook his head, "That's not it. She had to help her mom out in Hartford with some stuff."

"Oh." She nodded, "Well, be sure to thank her for me."

Luke raised his brows slightly as he nodded, "I will." He answered a little awkwardly

"And you too. For the party and the gifts. I really do love it. Especially that book." She said, which caused Luke press his lips together and look down at his clasped hands.

He knew exactly what book April was talking about. It was in the cutest little kitty cat bag. He remembered watching April open her gifts and thinking someone else knew her fondness of kitty cats as well, but as she read the tag aloud, his name was said.

He knew for a fact he didn't get that gift, so as he walked up to check the tag, there it was; his name. It was written so neatly and in a perfect loopy cursive, immediately, he knew whom the gift really was from.

 _Lorelai._

He knew he should've told April the truth, give Lorelai the deserved credit and receive the credit for his toiletry kit gift he also gave her, but he saw her face when she opened it. Lorelai was right. She was confused, hurt, embarrassed, even sympathetic towards him for giving it to her. It was an awful gift, and if he had actually listened to Lorelai, he would've been able to prevent that little scene.

He saw how happy April was when she opened the kitty cat bag. Her smile was a mile wide and he was able to fool himself into thinking he put it there. She ran up to him and hugged him tight. The feeling of being the reason for his daughter's happiness was the topper, and after that, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth, so he welcomed her gratitude with open arms.

"I've wanted it for a while now, but I just didn't have a chance to get it, so it was perfect. And the gift card will come in handy, so I don't have to sucker my mom out of money."

"Good." Luke nodded, "I'm glad you liked it." He said with a smile.

April nodded as well, "Yeah and everyone said my party kicked Marsha and Laura's parties butts, and so that's a plus."

Luke smiled, "Well that's good too."

Just as he finished his sentence Anna pulled up outside for April. Luke and April waved, acknowledging her.

April stood up and grabbed her small duffle bag and few packages of gifts, before turning to Luke, "Thanks again! I had a lot of fun. This was hands down the best party I've ever had." She said to him before hugging him quickly.

"You're welcome." He replied, hugging her back and seeing her off.

Luke watched as April hopped in the car and drove off. He locked up and took the trash bag out through the back, got rid of it and went upstairs to turn in al while smiling goofily, already forgetting that it was only a success, all because of Lorelai.

* * *

Sookie had just gotten through baking every sort of desert she could think up that wouldn't be suspicious, as well as easy. She just pulled out the last batch of pies and cookies. She called a quick staff meeting in the kitchen and emphasized that no one was to touch or eat any of the desserts.

She made up a story, that it was for Jackson's family and she ran out of room at home, hence the reason it was there. The staff agreed and she told Manny if Lorelai came in to tell her that her dessert was on the opposite side of the refrigerator. He nodded and with that Sookie was off.

Minutes after Sookie had left, Lorelai arrived at the Inn. She headed to the kitchen in search of Sookie. She was curious as to how the drop off went, but as she entered the kitchen, Sookie wasn't there.

Manny, Sookie's sous chef, exited the pantry and walked back into the kitchen, "Oh Lorelai, good. Um, Sookie said your dessert is in the fridge." He informed.

"Thanks Manny! Did she head out already?" Lorelai asked, heading towards the fridge.

"Yeah. You just missed her." He replied, "I have to grab more potatoes for the stew. Have a good night." He bid farewell as he made his way back into the pantry.

"Night Manny!" she called back as she suddenly saw the vast amount of desserts sitting in the fridge "Whoa! Happy belated birthday to me."

Lorelai turned around and grabbed a tray and started loading a container of brownies and cookies and then looked at the four pies sitting on the next rack.

"Hmm" she looked at the pies trying to choose one. She pointed to them and sang, "My. Stomach. Told. Me. You. Are. It!" she cheered grabbing the third pie and placing it on top of the container. She smiled triumphantly at her treasures and made her way back out to her jeep, anxious to enjoy her feast.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Wow, I've been slacking big time. SORRY! I'm trying, I'm trying. Hopefully it can get rolling. I've been trying to read some LL stories to get that mojo back, but I can't seem to find any really _suck you in_ stories. hmm with some titles if you now of some lol. Hope to update soon. Thanks again! (btw, I saw that the program autocorrected Lorelai's name in the last chapter, SORRY... AGAIN. lol


	5. Heated Highs

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** Editing as fast and as often as I can to get this story moving. I'm trying, I swear. Thanks to all of you for continuing to follow along with this long wait.

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 5: Heated Highs_

Like most common folks, Lorelai Gilmore enjoyed every aspect of sleep. When she would finally be ready to call it a day and allow her eyes to close with ease, she'd be eagerly welcomed into the peaceful cocoon that awaited her every night.

She internally applauded her ingenuity in creating mind-blowing dreams that always branded her face with an uncontrollable smile when she awoke the next morning, causing her days to automatically begin well.

Lorelai was also never anticipated in being spotted on her very few days off to rise before mid-morning, unless it was obligatory. She took advantage of those very few times she had permitted herself a couple hours to sleep-in once a month, as expected. She would allow herself to rest in bed, basking in the calmness of serenity as she prevented her eyes to open until the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

She would wager with Luke saying things like; although she possessed beautifying products, sleep was definitely the most important key to withholding beauty and youthfulness. Even if it wasn't much, sleep was indisputably underrated and without a doubt a necessity not only for physical reasons, but mental as well.

Lorelai usually loved her dream world. It was full of so much wonderful emotions and people. Of course the dreams always varied. They would star different people in her life. Some consisting of very naughty scenarios with Luke that her unconscious mind had either replayed or gave her ideas for their next encounter.

Some dreams were with her daughter as she watched her graduate college and go off to accomplish her biggest goal of being a journalist. And some even starred Sookie as they sat in silence on the bench that over looked the grounds of the Dragonfly Inn that they had built together as they proudly soaked in their very deserving success.

But even with the vast amount of topics and different circumstances, she always loved the dreams that had highlighted her near future the most. Her future with Luke. There were more than a few that presented themselves to her in the night, but they always consisted the same outcome. She remembered the first dream came to her when she and Luke weren't even together yet.

It was during that dreadful summer that they hadn't spoken to each other after their unpleasant dispute in the street. She had reiterated her dream to him the night he took her in when the Independence Inn caught fire. She told him that he had set a bunch of alarm clocks to get her up. They were at the Crapshack. He was in the kitchen cooking her breakfast. He had attempted, but failed miserably, to hide her coffee. He talked to her stomach. She told him it was because she was pregnant… with _his_ twins, of course. Then she confirmed that they had been indeed married.

It was those types of PG rated dreams that had caused her the infinite sensation of perfect bliss.

Just a week after she had coincidentally stumbled upon the knowledge of April's existence, one of those dreams came crashing unto her so forcefully, without even the slightest bit of warning. It placed her in a setting where she saw Luke and herself sitting on a porch swing that was located on the front of a deck that wrapped around a big beautiful house.

They smiled adoringly downward as they each cradled a little bundled up object in their arms. April would come bursting out through the front door, nose buried in a book as she took up a cushioned chair that was situated to their left. Rory would then be seen pulling up into the driveway, calling out her greetings to all of them.

Rory would make her way up the steps towards her parents with a smile, as she would then lean over to place a soft kiss to each baby's head. Luke and Lorelai would beam happily as they looked on proudly to their four children. Then they would turn to smile at one another before sharing a loving kiss.

Another setting had Lorelai walking up the steps to the diner on a warm summer day. She would be seen pushing the door open, causing the bell above it to jingle loudly, alerting all who were around of their arrival. She held the door open as she allowed the two children, who looked to be around the age of five that followed closely on her heels to walk in ahead of her.

Lorelai would guide them both over to the counter, where she then assisted each child by placing them up on an empty stool near the cash register. She would then spot Luke finally making his way out of the kitchen with a smile directed towards her as he wiped his hands on a hand-towel.

He would then look further down to his children that were perched up on stools in front of their mother, ready to greet them, until he would see what they both contained in their hands and the mess they had created on the counter.

The kids didn't even bother to acknowledge their father, as they were both too busy consuming their delicious ice cream cones. Luke would then turn to give Lorelai a stern glare that only made her smile brightly back at him, causing him to shake his head and chuckle softly, knowing he didn't stand a chance against that smile.

He would then take the cloth in his left hand and begin wiping up the mess. His platinum wedding ring that enveloped his finger, shamelessly winking at Lorelai as his hand moved in and out of the overhead light.

He would then reach under the counter to retrieve two more cloths and place one in front of each child's eating area as an impromptu placemat. Lorelai would see him smirk broadly and ruffle each child's hair, before he skirted the counter to make his way to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against him, greeted her hello and kissed her lingeringly.

Even with everything that was happening in reality between Luke and herself, she couldn't help the smile that found its place on her lips after waking up from a dream like that.

Some people believe that even as a person sanctions himself or herself down to sleep for the night, lying deeply unconscious to the world, their state of mind still runs without a doubt, abundantly awake.

A person doesn't really come to terms with just how much they allow themselves to withstand, until the problems and emotions from their real world viciously haunt their world of slumber.

Some might even say that the cataleptic state is much worse; reason being is the imagination has the opportunity to have that person experience their worst possible fears without restriction. But even with that knowledge, Lorelai held out hope that things would get better and her fantastic dreams would soon become her reality.

Her most recent dream though, was the one that hit her the hardest. She had been desperately trying to prevent herself from falling asleep fully or for too long. But the inevitable happened two nights ago when a violent wave of drowsiness came tumbling down upon her like a ton of bricks.

It knocked her out so deep into slumber that she was lost in her dream world for what felt like endless hours, but was only just mere minutes. She remembered when the dream had finally released her back into the conscious world; causing her to awake with a start as tears poured out of her eyes and streamed down her face.

The images would replay over and over in her mind, holding her in a grasp as tight and painful as a straightjacket. She struggled to be set free from the vividness of her vision, for even though the dream had been everything she wished for, she knew she was no where near achieving it. That thought alone caused her to forego the necessity of sleep, just to inhibit any more dreams that she knew would be too heart wrenching to witness.

But as she lay sprawled out in her cold empty bed, she strained to keep her eyes open, while her mind ran endlessly. She worriedly forced herself not to surrender to the sandman's clutches.

Her eyes began to dry with the lack of blinking, so she allowed her eyes to slowly blink once, twice, then as she tried with all her might to re-open her heavy lids, she couldn't. They felt as if they were glued shut causing her to plummet deep into an almost lifeless sleep.

As the sunlight shone brightly through the half shaded windows, Lorelai groaned softly as she welcomed the early morning by rolling over onto her back and languidly stretched her limbs. Her left hand reached out towards Luke's side of the bed, it came into contact with the cool rumpled sheets and slightly indented pillow.

She signed a little disappointed in waking up alone, until she inhaled deeply and was instantly hit with the mouthwatering aroma of coffee mixed with the strong wafting smell of turkey and stuffing. Her lips broke out into a huge grin as she threw the covers off of her body and shot out of the bed, hurrying into the bathroom to complete her morning rituals.

Once she was fresh and changed, Lorelai made her way down the hall, passing a few closed doors on her way towards the landing before she began to slowly descend the beautiful maple-colored staircase.

As she reached the bottom, she could hear the sounds of talk and laughter from her left, carrying throughout the house. She recognized one of the voices to be Luke's and followed it. She peered into the open archway into a large spectacular kitchen to see Luke standing behind a gas range stove that was placed in the middle of the island.

The two children from her ice cream dream were also there, but they looked to be around the age of seven or eight years old now. They were both seated on stools on the opposite side of Luke, waiting for his signal to authorize them to help in anyway. One of the kids chattered away easily, perched up against the counter, while the other child sat perfectly still, patiently waiting in silence, watching Luke's every move carefully.

Lorelai watched the scene before her wearing a bright smile, her eyes full of admiration. She went unnoticed, until she exhaled out a delighted sigh, which somehow got the attention of the child that sat quietly. The child's head snapped towards her, having what seemed like a sixth sense for feeling her presence in the room and a huge grin was instantly directed at her.

"Mommy!" said the kid happily, jumping up from the stool to run to her.

The other child's head snapped in the same direction after hearing the commotion and broke out in a smile as well "Mommy!" came another shout.

Lorelai squatted to their level and opened her arms, welcoming them to her. The kids ran alongside each other and basically tackled Lorelai in a big bear hug.

She wrapped an arm around each child, "Hi my babies!" she greeted happily, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Happy Thanksgiving!" they chimed in unison, flashing big goofy grins.

Lorelai glanced up at Luke flashing him a grin of his own and sent him a wink along with it, then turned back to huddle with the children and spoke in a conspirator tone, but loud enough for Luke to still hear as she asked, "Did daddy make you breakfast already?"

The quiet kid nodded yes, while the other answered, "Uh huh! Daddy made us strawberry oatmeal and bacon." He replied, enthusiastically.

"Yuck!" Lorelai scrunched up her face playfully, "Healthy food."

"Bacon is not healthy." Luke inputted as he placed the finishing ingredients in the pies.

Lorelai looked back at him and said, "Well the oatmeal counts as five healthy foods," gaining a roll of his eyes from Luke. She then looked back to the children, "so, you know what that means?" she asked, showing her excitement.

"What?" they asked together, intrigued with wide eyes.

"We need to even the numbers out, meaning…" Lorelai faded, allowing them to finish for her.

"Chocolate!" they shouted, excitedly.

Luke turned to the three of them and pointed a finger, "No chocolate! You'll spoil your appetite. Your sisters and grandparents will be here any minute, so keep your pants on."

"Aww…" the three of them whined, dejectedly. Luke arched his brow at them as if telling them to answer him properly. "Yes dad!" the two children answered acknowledging his authority, knowing not to argue with their father.

Luke nodded in satisfaction, then turned to place the pies into the oven to keep them warm.

Seeing her moment, Lorelai went over to the drawer on the side of the island and grabbed the package of Redvines as quietly as possible, then made her way to the kids and shoved it into their arms before whispering, "Go! Hurry!" she spun them around and with that the two children dashed out of the kitchen at the speed of light, giggling.

Lorelai turned around only to be met by Luke's piercing gaze, "Lorelai!" He barked with his hands on his hips.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders and held her palms up innocently, "What?"

"You know what." He scolded

"Come on, babe," Lorelai made her way over to stand directly in front of him. She let her bottom lip fall forward in a pout, "They're hungry, and they deserve a treat after eating oatmeal." She said running her finger down his chest, over his abdomen and stopping to land on his belt buckle.

He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her tight up against him, "It'll spoil their appetite." He said gruffly, knowing his firmness was fading quickly.

Lorelai broke out into a dangerous smile as she leaned forward, allowing her lips to graze his ear as she whispered, "I know what treat I want that'll satisfy my appetite." She flirted as she rolled her hips into his, emitting a guttural groan from him.

"Don't tempt me, woman." He growled in her ear as he kissed his way down her jaw and to her neck where he then began showering it with warm wet kisses.

He found the spot right in the middle of her neck and bit down slightly, knowing that it drove her crazy. "Luke" She moaned, one hand bunching his flannel shirt tightly at his side, while the other cradled his head in place at her neck as she rotated her hips into his once more.

"Tease" He mumbled against her skin as he sucked on her flesh, dragging his tongue lazily against it and grasped her hips a little tighter.

He ground into her, gaining another moan to escape her lips. Then they faintly heard rocks crunching under the weight of tires, coming from outside.

The voice of the quiet child was heard from the other room, "Rory!"

It followed with a shout of, "April!" from the voice of the chatterbox child.

As their little footsteps were heard heading quickly towards the front door, Luke rested his forehead against Lorelai's as he gave her hips another gentle squeeze. He groaned in frustration at having to cease their little heated session.

"Stop," Lorelai smiled, "you like the girls, remember?" she said softly and placed a kiss on his lips.

"Not when they interrupt time with my best girl." He growled, before securing their lips together in another intoxicating kiss.

Lorelai gently captured his bottom lip between her teeth emanating another throaty groan from Luke. "I'll make it up to you tonight." She promised after releasing his lip.

He shook his head, "Now" he mumbled, wrapping her up tightly to him, "I'll pack the younger ones up with the girls and send them to your parents." He said huskily, his lips tickling hers as he spoke.

Lorelai seized his bottom lip again, but this time between her lips as she gently suckled on it, letting her tongue trail along it gracefully. He immediately opened his mouth, his tongue searching to meet hers only for her to pull back slightly, not allowing that connection. He growled in frustration causing her to giggle.

"Later, babe." She reassured, mumbling against his lips before kissing him softly. She gently patted his chest as she slipped out of his hold just in time to hear a rush amount of footsteps re-entering the house, followed by the front door shutting loudly with a bang.

Her eyes quickly snapped open as she shot up in bed, desperately gasping for air. Lorelai sighed dejectedly as she realized the inevitable had happened and she had fallen asleep. She inhaled a heavy breath at the thought of her recently most beloved dream had revisited her.

She felt the swift rise of heated water building in the back of her eyes. She squeezed them shut, hopelessly trying to retract any liquid from falling, all while attempting to banish the images from her dream out of her mind. She found it to be unfair of how her most desired wish of her whole package with Luke, now haunted her mercilessly in her dreams.

Lorelai was usually known best for being a beautiful, bright and strong independent woman. She was never known as someone who didn't dare speak her mind. She had a very extensive vocabulary, full of charming wit and diverse references that usually would have her fellow by-standers heads spinning at a lost.

She so proudly and rightfully displayed her dazzling smile and contagiously euphoric demeanor so openly at all times. Anyone and everyone who had the honor of knowing or meeting her instantly fell in love with the gorgeous, incessant chattering, remarkable force of nature better known as Lorelai Gilmore.

That being said, it was literally heartbreaking to see Stars Hollow's own Wonder Woman brimming with sadness and devastation as her usual infectious exhilaration for life came crashing to an obliterating halt. As of a little over seven months ago, that miraculous woman had been gradually deteriorating before everyone's eyes.

Apparently everyone didn't include Luke. He was the one person that could sometimes know her better than her daughter, her own flesh and blood. He was also the one person who could usually read her like a children's picture book, seeing what exact emotion she was feeling before she even uttered a word. And yet now he couldn't even see what was happening to her right in front of his eyes, that was unmistakably ripping her to shreds.

Her cast-iron walls were not being built fast enough in order to avoid the excruciating invasion of shots to her heart that were caused by the constant dismissal from the only man who was ever able to capture it.

As hard as she had tried, she couldn't even put up a good enough fight anymore to the unavoidable rogue tears that now regularly spilled from her eyes, night after night as she had been left alone in her big, newly renovated, empty house. On those long unremitting restless nights, she allowed her tears that detained ounces of rejection and pain to fall without reserve.

Lorelai swiped at her cheeks furiously, wiping away any tears that had strayed. She pushed away all torturous thoughts and rolled out of bed. She headed straight into the bathroom for a hot shower, hoping the heat of the water would relax some of her aching muscles and wash away the pain. She at least held out hope for the former.

She allowed the drops of water that fell onto her face to disguise the drops of water that spilled from her eyes. The pressure of the warm sprays cascaded down her long dark waves and ran like silk off of her back, while the steam that flowed upward caused a faint pink tint on her cheeks as it swiftly warmed her all around.

After she had gotten dressed and finished her morning routines of getting ready for the day, Lorelai made her way downstairs. She put on a pot of coffee then went to the fridge to see what junk she had left, since she hadn't gone grocery shopping since the last time Luke was over, which she couldn't even remember when. She opened the fridge door and was immediately staring at her deserted treasures from the night before.

She smirked with a glint in her eyes, "Thank you, Sookie, for this is truly a breakfast for champions." She said to herself as she reached for the container and pie plate.

The coffee had just finished, so she set the desserts down onto the table before she poured herself a large mug of coffee and grabbed a fork from the drawer below. She plopped herself in a chair and peeled the lid back from the container.

Lorelai picked up a brownie and furrowed her brows slightly as she inspected it. She saw little dark green sprinkles mixed into it, she wondered if Sookie had tried a new recipe or if she had purposefully put vegetables in them to be sure Lorelai had some kind of nutrients in her. She shrugged and took a huge bite out of it right before she gulped down her first of her coffee.

"Mmmm!" Lorelai exclaimed softly "Not bad for green stuff." She nodded in approval and picked up a cookie from the container.

Lorelai dropped the fork into the pie plate allowing it to clatter. She had demolished a total of two brownies, two cookies, and a huge piece of pie, and on top of that, she swallowed three giant cups of coffee. Her eyelids drooped slightly with every passing second, until they rested half open.

Her eyes were tinted with a veil of red, causing her twinkling blue eyes to look even more piercingly blue. If it hadn't been for her fully lazy, almost drunken looking smile, Lorelai would've appeared to be an insomniatic victim.

Lorelai slowly replaced the lid back onto the dessert container and resituated it along with the pie plate back into the fridge. She was experiencing the sudden urge to move about, her feet didn't want to stay put. Her mind raced even though her eyes were exhausted. Her whole body felt like a contradiction.

She giggled at the thought as she allowed her coffee mug to slip from her fingers into the sink bumping the side with a plop noise. She felt her stomach rumble lowly and giggled again as she wondered if it was calling for more food or signaling for help.

In an instant the image of a big juicy pancake flashed into her mind. The pancake had legs and arms. It smiled and waved at her, then as if by magic a big bottle of syrup appeared next to it and also smiled at her. She waved back to both of them and watched as they took each other's magically prosthetic placed arms and began dancing around in a circle, then they both looked up and started laughing as it started raining slices of strawberries and sprays of whipped cream on top of them.

Lorelai licked her lips hungrily, then felt a nudge on the side of her leg. She looked down to see Paul Anka panting. She shook her head from the crazy thoughts of pancakes, smiled at him and gradually made her way to pour him some kibble and fresh water.

Once he was all set, she made her way to the desk in the hallway and picked up her purse. She reached for her wallet and grabbed out a couple twenties and stuffed it into her pocket, then snatched up her keys while stuffing her feet into her tennis shoes and made her way out calling her farewell to her dog.

* * *

Lorelai had somehow managed to make her way to the diner, only stumbling twice. She made it in good time too, considering the state that she was currently in. She laughed a little as she climbed the steps slowly, trying to act cool, but coming off as if she was trying to avoid landmines.

The bell above the door jingled, as it swung open causing her to look up, only to be met with the smoky blue eyes of her fiancée, staring at her as if she had lost her mind.

Her eyes were still glassy and wilted slightly except for the corners where it crinkled due to her huge lazy looking smile that appeared on her face, "Hi!" she greeted as she stepped up to him and kissed his lips, "Mmmm" she moaned against his lips "You taste good." She finished with a pat to his chest and moved past him making her way into the diner.

Luke turned to follow her, his face showing pure confusion. He allowed the door to shut behind him as he watched Lorelai take a seat at the counter.

"Good morning, honey!" came the greeting from Ms. Patty who sat at a table with Babette.

Lorelai turned to face them and flashed her big toothless smile, "Hey ladies!" she said slowly.

"Lookin' good, sugah!" Came the rasp from Babette, "That must've been some kiss. Luke's still in shock." She said, hooking her thumb towards the man himself.

Lorelai turned to face him and her toothless smile turned into a full spread grin, "Hi!" she said in an excited flirty tone.

Luke raised his brows in surprise at her odd behavior, "Hi?" He replied, questioningly and moved to stand in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

He bent his knees a little to meet her eyes and he narrowed his as he asked, "Is everything okay?"

Her smile never faded as she mirrored his questioning eyes and replied, "I don't know, you tell me."

"Lorelai" He began sternly, "What's going on?" He asked softly, his voice filled with concern and curiosity as he leaned closer to her.

Lorelai inhaled deeply, "Mmmm" she sighed contently, "you smell good." She said her pupils growing wider as it filled with hunger for him.

Luke's brows knit together at her off the subject comment and turned to yell towards the kitchen, "Ceasar!"

"Yeah, Boss?" Ceasar replied, sticking his head out of the kitchen, seeing Lorelai he smiled, "Hey Lorelai."

Lorelai smiled, goofily as she replied, "Hi Ceasar."

"I'm gonna take Lorelai upstairs for a while, I don't think she's feeling good. Lane will be here in a bit." He said as he began to assist Lorelai to her feet.

"But I feel fine, Luke." Lorelai said lazily with a smirk as she wrapped her arms around his midsection and burying her face in his neck, inhaling a deep breath of him.

Ceasar raised his brows at Lorelai then smirked at Luke, "She gonna be okay?" He asked.

Luke looked down at her as his arm wrapped around her waist, "She'll be fine." He replied and started leading her towards the direction of the stairs up to his apartment.

* * *

Meanwhile at that same moment, Sookie and Jackson had barged into the kitchen at the Dragonfly with trash bins and nervous smiles on their faces, anxious to be able to get rid of the unwanted substances that rested inside the desserts that sat in the Inn's fridge.

Sookie walked over and opened up the fridge, while Jackson stood over the trash bin gesturing her to hurry. Sookie began tossing the containers filled with brownies into the bin, then the large containers full of cookies, then as she bent to the next shelve that held the pies she gasped loudly.

"What? What?" Jackson panicked, looking behind him to see if anyone was coming.

Sookie pointed to the pie shelf, "The pies! The pies!" she cried in terror.

"Yes, Sookie they're very pretty, but could you please hurry before someone-" Jackson began only for Sookie to cut him off.

"No, Jackson! The pies! There's three!" she cried, beginning to get hysterical.

"Okay so?" He asked, circling his hands as if to tell her get to the point.

"There's only three pies and I baked four!" she explained in horror.

Jackson's eyes grew wide in realization, "Oh my God!"

"Oh my God!" she repeated.

"Hey Sookie! Jackson." Came the voice of Sookie's sous chef.

"Manny" She greeted distantly, but snapped her head back to him quickly, "Manny! Who touched these desserts? Someone took a pie! I told everyone not to touch these, now who did it?" She cornered him.

Manny's eyes went wide as he stammered, "Not me! I swear."

"Then who was it?" She questioned gripping his shirt in a fist.

"I don't know, Sookie. Lorelai was the last person to go in the fridge that I saw." He said in a rush.

Just then a horrified look came across Sookie's face as she connected the dots, "I told her about the brownies you made for her, but I went in the back to get potatoes, so I'm not so sure if anyone came in after her." He continued.

"I'm sorry, Manny." Sookie nodded her head in acceptance and released her hold on his shirt patting it back into place, "I believe you. I'm sorry. They were- um… a secret recipe of mine and it wasn't quite ready." She tried to fib "Jackson and I are just gonna check on her for a bit, we'll be back later, Manny."

Manny nodded, "Okay, Boss"

With that Sookie and Jackson headed out in search of Lorelai hoping to get to her before she had consumed any of the dessert in question.

* * *

As they were out of sight Lorelai smiled dangerously, "Ooooh!" She purred into his neck, "Do I get to show you how delicious I think you are?" She flirted as they headed up the stairs.

"Lorelai, have you been drinking?" He asked, slowing his pace a bit, his arm still wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Who me?" She asked as if the thought had been ridiculous.

"Yes, you." He said.

"Couldn't be!" She exclaimed, and then giggled at her joke.

"Lorelai" He scolded, "I'm serious. What's gotten into you?" He asked as they made it to the door and he swung it open.

Lorelai lifted her head and flashed him a devilish smile, "Well hopefully you soon." She said seductively, before she leaned in to capture his lips between hers and slowly allowed her tongue to push through his mouth and mingle with his tongue for a bit, before pulling back and making her way over to his bed while kicking off her shoes.

Luke stood there with a bewildered look on his face as he stared at her from his rooted position just inside the door. He kicked the door closed, then followed her only to find her lying on top of his bed with her head propped up in her hand as she lay on her side facing him.

She held a wolfish grin, "You gonna join me, or do I have to start without you?" She asked causing him to clench his jaw at the image she gave him.

He did his best to calm himself, before he spoke, "Wait, Lorelai." He sat on the bed next to her, "I need you to tell me what's going on? Not that I'm not liking this you, but you're acting different and why are your eyes red? Have you been crying?" He spat out question after question.

Lorelai shook her head slowly and put a finger to his lips, "Shhh…" She said and leered longingly at them. She licked her own lips and then glanced back into Luke's eyes before returning her gaze back to his beautiful full pink lips.

She leaned into him and brushed her lips with his, slowly darting her tongue out to wet his. Luke's lips fell open slightly at her touch feeling as if he had lost control of his own actions and allowed her to override his stations.

She pulled him down into a laying position as she pulled him flush up against her, allowing them to feel each other's warmth. Lorelai moaned into his mouth as she felt his reaction to her.

"Well, hello!" She whispered against his lips, causing him to growl and go back in to attack her mouth emitting a small fit of giggles from Lorelai.

"Look at what you do to me." He said lowly as he pulled her leg over his hip and ground into her

"Mmmm, I like your effect to my cause." She laughed lazily as he devoured her neck with warm wet kisses.

"I feel like we haven't done this in forever." He mumbled against her neck, before he sucked on the spot he had been working on.

Lorelai groaned in approval, "That's because on a minimum, we usually do it once a day. It's been almost a week or two… I don't know I lost count."

"God, I missed this." He groaned and rolled his hips into her again, "I missed you."

Lorelai moaned loudly as her fingers wound into the hair at the nape of his neck, while the other held him close, "Well, what do you expect when you don't want me and keep pushing me away." She let the sentence slip out of her mouth, causing Luke to immediately halt his actions and lift his head to look at her.

"What?" He panted as he looked into her eyes trying to see if he heard her correctly.

Just then there was the sound of loud banging on the door heard, causing them both to look in the direction of the noise.

"Luke! Lorelai!" came Sookie's voice from the other side causing Luke to begin to pull away from Lorelai, "You two better have clothes on! I'm giving you to the count of five." She shouted.

Luke got to his feet and reached for his hat that had been knocked off to the floor and replaced it on his head. He glanced to Lorelai to see she too had sat up on the bed, but wouldn't make eye contact with him. He sighed heavily as he went to open the door just as Sookie was on four.

"What is it, Sookie?" He asked, opening the door swiftly.

Sookie flinched a little, startled by the abrupt answer, then she looked over his shoulder and saw Lorelai standing there looking more tired now, and without the lazy grin.

"Lorelai! You need to come with me." Sookie demanded as she pushed past Luke to retrieve her friend.

Luke took a step back, "Wait! What? Why?" He asked in confusion by the intrusion.

Sookie began walking back towards the door with Lorelai in tow, "Because." She said shortly.

Luke's eyes grew wide, "Because? Because what, Sookie?" He asked indignantly.

"Because she ate a pie that she wasn't supposed to eat and I need to monitor her for any sort of reactions, Luke." Sookie explained, exasperated as she made it to the door.

"What?" Luke lunged out to grasp Lorelai's arm gently, jerking both women to a stop, "No, Sookie! Lorelai and I are in the middle of something. I'll watch her." He said, pulling Lorelai closer to him.

"No, Luke!" Sookie tugged her other arm, "I need to watch her. You can have your way with her later, but right now she needs to get back to work, and so do you."

"We both run our own businesses, Sookie." He tugged Lorelai back again, "I think we can afford to miss a couple hours of work and not get in trouble." He stated gruffly.

"Okay guys, I'm not a yo-yo!" Lorelai spoke up and pulled both her arms out of each of their grasps.

"Lorelai and I aren't finished here, we need to talk about a few things, Sookie. Privately." Said Luke.

"You will talk, but not now." Sookie told him, "I'm sorry, but I need Lorelai back at the Inn. You two can talk later tonight, I promise. No more interruptions, but she needs to come with me." Sookie said firmly as she lightly guided Lorelai out.

Luke exhaled a frustrated growl "I want her all to myself by seven, Sookie! No exceptions!" He said firmly, pointing a stern finger at her.

Sookie nodded, "You got it, Luke."

Lorelai looked back to Luke and gave him a sad smile, "Wait!" Luke called out.

"What now, Luke?" Sookie asked in aggravation.

Luke walked up to Lorelai and placed a kiss on her lips, then raised his lips to her ear, "Tonight. You and me, okay?" He whispered and pulled back to look into her eyes.

Lorelai nodded her head slowly then pecked his lips once more before turning to follow Sookie.

Luke's eyes were glued to her retreating form as she followed Sookie down the stairs. He sighed heavily and turned to go back into his apartment. His thoughts were swimming so fast at the words she had spoken just minutes ago.

He plopped himself onto his bed, the scent of her instantly assaulting his senses. He loved the smell of her. He missed it, he felt as if he hadn't been close enough to her to recognize it in a long time. He needed to talk to Lorelai, and soon. He glanced at his clock on his nightstand and growled as it read 11AM.

"Eight hours to go." He whispered to the ceiling as his mind continued to run on autopilot.

Half of him desperately wanted to talk to her, and figure out what was going on, while the other half dreaded what was to come.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Aren't ya'll proud of me. This edit was soon much faster. Like I said, I'm trying to speed things up as fast as I can to get this story back in progress. Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews. You all rock!


	6. Counting Stars

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** Hooray for another pretty fast edit. I told ya'll I'm trying and I am. I'm slowly getting the mojo back, so pray that it stays. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 6: Counting Stars_

Lorelai began to stir as she heard the faint noise of laughter coming from what seemed to be outside. The sun burst brightly through the sheer blue curtains that hung from the large floor to ceiling windows. She sat up slowly and took in the sight of the beautiful extensive master bedroom.

The walls were coated in a heather gray shade and it was littered with silver frames that were filled with children's paintings, newspaper articles and science awards. There were black-framed photographs that varied of Luke, herself, Rory, April and the same two children from all her previous dreams.

Lorelai's lips spread in an adoring smile as she allowed her eyes to leisurely roam from frame to frame. The laughter sounded again, but this time it followed with a loud, "Nice one!" she immediately recognized as Luke's voice, which only caused her smile to grow.

She hopped out of bed and sauntered over to one of the windows. She pulled back the curtain a bit to look out, only to feel as though her cheeks would hurt like hell if she smiled any wider. The cause of her thousand-watt smile was from the sight of Luke in the front yard playing baseball with their two children.

Luke beamed proudly at their kids as he stood in the middle, a few feet away from both of them. One of the boys wore a blue hat, backwards, smaller but identical to Luke's as he stood beside a small white home base plate holding a bat, while the other child combed his free hand through his thick mass of neatly styled hair. He had a baseball mitt in hand a few feet behind Luke, waiting for his brother's next hit.

Lorelai dropped the curtain and dashed into the bathroom to wash up, eagerly trying to speed through her usual morning routine to join in with her families festivities. As she finished up, she exited and went straight to the door on the far left side of the room.

She pulled open the door and gasped at the sight – a huge walk in closet full of Luke's and her clothes and three wrap around shelves on the bottom, full of her shoes. She squealed with delight, then calmed herself and whispered, "Later." She headed to one of the drawers and picked out a plain white tee and a pair of dark blue jeans. She slipped them on and hurried out of the room.

Lorelai made her way down the now familiar hallway with ease, passing the closed doors on her way towards the landing and scurried down the beautiful maple-colored staircase. As she reached the bottom, she could hear the sounds of the talk and laughter getting louder as she drew nearer.

She quietly slipped out of the front door and leaned her shoulder up against the pillar of the porch, unnoticed. She watched on silently as Luke underhand pitched the material baseball to the boy behind the base – which she quickly pinned as the quiet one – for the one she had easily recognized as the chatterbox child punched a fist into his glove repeatedly and called out playful taunts to his brother from the outfield.

The quiet child connected his bat with the baseball and sent a pop fly soaring over his brother's head.

Luke smiled wide and clapped, "Nice!" He praised his son, "Next one, pivot your hip a little more – gives you that extra power in your swing, big guy." He advised, gaining a strong and silent nod from the boy.

The chatterbox child came jogging back after retrieving the ball, "Is it my turn yet, Dad? I'm getting tired of running." He complained, tossing the ball back to Luke.

"You had your turn." Luke ruffled the boy's head, "Your brother didn't complain when it was you up there, so neither should you. Now get back out there and keep your eye on the ball. I don't wanna see another one go over your head, you hear?"

"Aww man." The boy grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Luke questioned sternly, raising a brow at his son.

"Yes, Dad." The boy corrected swiftly as he straightened his posture.

"Better." Luke nodded "Come on, one more, then we can go in and make lunch." Luke said, giving the chatterbox child a pat on his behind as the boy turned to head back to the outfield. "Hopefully, Sleeping Beauty is up by then." Luke added, causing the boys to laugh.

Lorelai let out an almost silent huff that magically got the quiet child's attention. He shot his mother one of his rare smiles that mirrored her own – one that was usually only reserved for her – as Lorelai called out, "Hey!" indignantly at Luke – finally letting her presence be known.

"Mom!" shouted the silent child excitedly as he dropped his bat on the grass and sprinted towards Lorelai.

Lorelai embraced the boy as he tackled her right side in a tight hug, "Hey dude!" She greeted him with a bright smile, then looked back up to Luke and continued, "I mean I'll take the title, since there's the word 'beauty' in it, but I am not, nor will I ever be a blonde." She joked with a mock serious tone.

"Thank God!" Luke replied with a smirk, causing Lorelai to break back into a smile of her own.

The chatterbox child jogged up to the rest of them and looked to Luke, "Mom's up, can we eat now?" He asked innocently.

Luke turned to Lorelai and pointed a finger at the chatterbox kid, "Definitely your son." He joked.

Lorelai kept her smile as she replied, "Proud of it." She put her free hand on her hip, pretending to be offended and looked to her son that never left her side and said, "Gee, you carry them in you for nine months, go into labor for five hours and that one," She hooked a thumb towards the chatterbox kid, making the silent one laugh, before she continued, "waiting an extra seven minutes to come out, then you feed em', bathe em', care for em' and still can't even get a 'Hi Mom'?" She finished, raising her brows with a smile at the boy himself.

The chatterbox child rolled his eyes, which paralleled a classic Luke move and gave a small smile back at his mother. He made his way over to her available side and gave her a hug, "Hi Mom." He said flatly and released her, his lips still holding his smile.

"Much better." Lorelai smiled brightly, then looked towards Luke as he too walked up to greet his wife, "What about you, handsome? Do I get a proper hello from you?" She flirted as both of the boys stood back to allow their father in.

Luke smiled back at her and snaked an arm around her waist as he captured her bottom lip between his, causing her to hum with delight. They allowed their lips to stay locked as they basked in their first greeting of the day.

"Ugh!" Came the voice of the chatterbox child as the silent kid just nudged Luke in the side. "Gross, get a room."

"Your protector." Luke said pointing to the silent child, who gave his father a nod, while he allowed one side of his mouth to lift in a smirk, "And your clone" He turned to point at the chatterbox child who shot them a huge smile.

Lorelai giggled as she looked at each boy before turning back to Luke, "Our boys."

"Should we get rid of them?" Luke joked with his arm still holding Lorelai against him.

Lorelai pretended to think before shaking her head, "Nah, we like em' too much." She replied and smiled at the boys.

Luke exhaled a deep breath, pretending to be defeated, "Alright." He looked towards the silent child and said, "You're in charge of sandwiches." Then turned to the chatterbox child and continued, "And you're in charge of drinks. Get them started and we'll be right in."

Both boys nodded and began walking up the stairs to the front door. "He just wants us to leave, so he can kiss her." Mumbled the chatterbox kid, causing Lorelai to laugh.

"Just for that, we're gonna take longer." Luke shouted, gaining a wave of his hand over his shoulder from the chatterbox child as he and his brother kept on their path.

Luke shook his head and turned back to Lorelai to see her smiling at him in adoration, "What's that look for?" He asked her softly, unable to resist a small smile of his own.

Lorelai shook her head slowly as the smile never left her lips and replied, "I'm just happy."

Luke's smile grew as he squeezed her to him tighter and said, "Good, I'm glad." He leaned forward and softly brushed his lips against hers, "So am I." He mumbled against her lips before he secured her bottom lip between his in an intoxicating kiss.

Lorelai hummed with pleasure as she felt Luke's tongue delicately sweep across her lower lip, asking permission for his entrance, which she willingly granted. Their tongues danced in a battle of desire. Luke's hands found its way into Lorelai's back pockets, holding her close to him – showing her his reaction to her, while Lorelai's arms wrapped around Luke's neck allowing her fingers to play with the soft curls at the nape of his neck.

They both pulled back after the need of oxygen became crucial. Luke dipped his head down and latched his lips onto Lorelai's cream-colored neck causing her to moan softly.

"Luke?" she whispered

"Hmm?" He mumbled as his tongue laved the spot he had been focusing on.

"The boys." Was all she could get out as Luke gently bit down into her neck, causing her to fist his hair below his hat in her hands.

Luke groaned playfully, not wanting to stop yet, but instead placed one last wet kiss on her succulent neck and pulled his head back up to rest his forehead against hers. He kissed her sweetly and smiled, "You taste good." He mumbled against her lips.

"Back at'cha, Burger Boy." She said placing a kiss on the tip of his nose and slowly untangled herself, "Tonight, I'll show you just how delicious I think you are, stud." She added with a devilish smile as she headed up the stairs towards the house.

Luke growled and darted up the stairs after her, causing her to squeal and dash into the house. Lorelai just made it into the threshold of the house, when she felt Luke's strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her tight up against him.

Lorelai laughed and laid her head against his shoulder as Luke kissed her cheek. He latched his mouth onto Lorelai's neck – not moving from his position – as he kicked the door closed with his foot, causing the door to slam shut with a loud thud.

Lorelai's eyes snapped open as she awoke with a start. She could feel her heartbeat thumping loudly in her throat and her breath was coming out in short puffs. She swallowed thickly as the images of her new dream came hurdling back to her at rapid speed. She wanted to cry, but she felt as if her eyes might sting from the lack of moisture.

She took in her surroundings and realized she was in her living room on her couch. Lorelai sat up straight as her brows furrowed in confusion. It was getting dark out. The brightness from the sun was swiftly fading away as the beams of the moonlight began to kick up the notch in its time to shine.

"Hey, you're up!" came Sookie's voice as she entered the living room holding two mugs.

Lorelai still confused, answered groggily, "I'm up." She accepted one of the cups Sookie offered, "What happened?" she asked as she raised the mug to her lips inhaling its essence before taking a big gulp.

Sookie winced slightly as she settled into the armchair across from Lorelai and tested the waters, "Well, exactly how much do you remember?"

Lorelai shook her head slowly trying to recall the events that led up to her present state, "I remember waking up, getting dressed, having dessert for breakfast – which was great by the way – then I headed to Luke's and-" Lorelai stopped mid sentence and gasped, "Oh my God! Luke." She put her face in her hand, "Oh God, I was all over him and-." She gasps, remembering what she had let slip to Luke. She looked at Sookie with absolute horror and guilt painted on her face. "No." She exhaled heavily.

Sookie's expression showed confusion, "What? Who cares? Seriously honey, when are you and Luke not all over each other?" Sookie retorted, then added, "Well, you know, before."

"No, Sook, you don't understand. I think I told Luke." Lorelai tried to recollect her thoughts.

"Told Luke what?" Sookie asked still lost.

"I think I told him about how I've been feeling. You know, with him pushing me away. Oh my God!" Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as she rubbed circles on her temples.

Sookie paused for a second, allowing Lorelai to take a breather before she spoke up, "You know what, honey?" Lorelai opened one eye to look at her, "I'm glad you let that slip." Sookie informed, causing Lorelai's eyes to widen in surprise as Sookie continued, "If getting you to say that was because you got high, then I'm not sorry for my slip. It needed to be said-" Sookie began but was cut off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up." Lorelai interrupted, holding her hands out to Sookie to stop. "I'm sorry, I know I'm still trying to piece together things, but I believe I heard that I was high?" She said with a questioning look.

Sookie cringed a bit and laughed nervously, "You see, it's a funny story actually."

"Funny ha-ha? Or funny, I hope Lorelai doesn't need to find a new best friend after she's through strangling the old one?" Lorelai retorted, staring down Sookie dangerously.

"I swear the whole thing was an accident. You know that back half-acre in Jackson's garden that sat untouched for a few years, up on the slope, out of sight, out of mind?" Sookie began, repeating Jackson's words from the previous day.

"What about it?" Lorelai asked, lost at why her friend seemed to be changing the subject.

"Well, he went back there the other morning and it was a giant field of pot!" Sookie revealed still wincing, afraid of her friend's next move.

"Pot?" Lorelai repeated

Sookie nodded her head vigorously as she racked on, "Yeah, pot. You know, Mary-Jane, weed, kush, the crip, hemp, the good stuff, spliff, endow, ganja, marijuana, the devil's green lettuce." Sookie ticked off every slang word for the substance that she could think of.

"The devil's green lettuce?" Lorelai breathed out a laugh, "Never heard that one before."

"Lorelai? Did you hear me?" Sookie asked, anxiously.

"Should I be concerned that you know so many different ways of saying the word 'pot'?" Lorelai asked, ignoring her friend's frantic manor.

"What? No. Remember who I'm married to? His friends were all heavy into that before, some still are, so I've picked up a name or two."

Lorelai suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, causing Sookie to frown, mystified at the reaction she was receiving, "Oh God, I put too much in those desserts. Sookie chastised herself, "Damn those Tibbleton brothers!" She cursed, pounding her fist down in her other palm.

Lorelai regained her composure, "Wow! I haven't been high since… before Rory." She joked.

"Wait… You're not mad?" Sookie treaded lightly.

"No, I'm not mad." Lorelai shook her head, "Although I will say that I'm dreading what's gonna happen now that I've probably said too much to Luke while _high_ , but no, I'm not mad. Besides, you said it was an accident right?" Lorelai showed Sookie a small smile.

"Yes! One hundred percent accident. I swear." Sookie agreed immediately, "I couldn't throw it away or the rubbish guy would know and I couldn't shove it down the disposal or the plumber would know, so I thought of the only non-suspicious solution. Bake it." She joked, making Lorelai laugh softly before blowing out an exhausted breath.

"Bake it." Lorelai repeated with a sad smile.

"Yeah, I forgot that my best friend has a garbage disposal stomach." She giggled at her own joke, then turned serious, "I really am sorry, Lorelai." Sookie said sincerely.

"Sook, it's okay." Lorelai inhaled in thought and exhaled, "Honestly? That was the most relaxed I've felt in a while, not that I wanna feel relaxed that way again, but still." Lorelai smiled and Sookie giggled, but stopped as a thought came to her. Her eyes went wide as she glanced at her wristwatch.

"Umm… Sweetie?" she began, "There's just one more thing."

"You mean to tell me there's more besides you bringing illegal substances onto our Inn's property, getting me _high_ and me telling my fiancée how I feel?" Lorelai asked not liking the way Sookie was talking.

"I kind of stole you away from Luke and I promised him that I'd give you back at 7 with no excuses and no interruptions. Aaaand it's currently 5:30." She winced as she informed her friend.

Lorelai's eyes went wide, "Seriously?" she asked in horror.

Sookie nodded, "Yeah." Lorelai put her face in her hands and groaned. "I'm really sorry, honey."

Lorelai lifted her head from her hands and blew out a long breath, "It's okay." She paused, thinking about her next sentence, then nodded her head, "Yeah I need to do this. I just can't keep quiet anymore, Sook. I'm gonna blow a gasket in here." She said, pointing to her head.

Sookie nodded in understanding, "What are you gonna say?"

Lorelai stayed silent for a few seconds as she bit her lip and shook her head slowly, before she finally spoke up and said, "I'm gonna tell him that we need a break. That we need to rethink and reprioritize our lives, because as of lately, we're not apart of each others lives all that much. And I'm not okay with that, so if he is," she shrugged a shoulder sadly, "then, maybe… as sad as it may be, we aren't meant to be together after all."

Sookie's face contorted into sorrow for her friend. She loved Luke and Lorelai together – They were thee idolized couple. She was hands down one of their biggest fans – but recently, it seemed as though her best friend wasn't the same and if Luke didn't wake up soon, he would lose her.

"If you need anything, just call me, honey." Sookie said tapping Lorelai's hand.

Lorelai nodded, "Thanks, Sook. I'm probably gonna take a week or so off. Clear my head, but I'll definitely let you know what's going on and I'll be working from wherever it is I decide to stay, just please… keep it between us?"

"Of course, honey." Sookie reassured her as she squeezed her hand "Everything will be okay, sweetie. I love Luke, but I love you more and what he's been doing to you…" She shook her head and wagged a finger, "is a big no-no." she winced at the child talk, "Sorry, Jackson and I try not to swear in front of the kids."

Lorelai smiled, "It's okay. Thanks, Hon… for everything." Sookie smiled back sadly, "I'm gonna jump in the shower real quick, then head over to the diner." Lorelai said slowly.

"You sure? Luke said he'd come here."

"Yeah, I think it's better if I'm able to leave when I want, instead of the opposite way around. I'm afraid he won't leave if he comes here, and it'll just make things even harder." Lorelai explained.

"I guess you're right." Sookie agreed.

"I really do feel like we need this… I need this. I'm just glad you're here for me." Lorelai vented.

"Of course, sweetie, you know you can always come to me." Sookie consoled her friend.

Lorelai nodded gratefully with a small smile still on her lips, "You go on and get washed up. I'm gonna head out." Sookie said as she stood up.

Lorelai followed her lead and wrapped her arms around Sookie pulling her into an embrace, "Thank you, Sook!" Lorelai spoke softly with her eyes shut.

Sookie nodded, "Anytime." She whispered as they pulled apart, "Good luck. And remember… a break isn't a break up. It's just a matured time apart to think and reprioritize." Sookie reminded with a finger pointed at her.

Lorelai smiled again and nodded, "Got it." She replied as she ushered her friend out the door "Talk to you soon." She said as she bid Sookie farewell.

"Night, Lorelai." Sookie called as she hopped into her car and backed out of the driveway.

Lorelai made her way upstairs and swiftly got to her usual routine. She hopped in the shower and quickly lathered herself up with her sweet smelling body wash and rinsed off, opting to clip her hair up, preventing it from getting wet.

When she was through, she stepped out and sauntered over to her dresser in her room and grabbed her underwear, a bra, jeans and a top. She got dressed and completed her make up before she grabbed her phone and her purse as she headed downstairs and out the door. Lorelai hopped in her jeep and drove to the diner, dreading the conversation that was bound to happen.

* * *

Luke had returned back downstairs into the diner just a little after Lorelai had been hauled away. He figured he could kill time faster by throwing himself into his tasks with helping Ceasar and Lane with the lunch rush.

Although it seemed like a great idea and a simple solution – seeing as that's what he always did – Luke just couldn't get into his normal routine for the life of him. He kept forgetting orders, dropping utensils, spilling drinks and delivering plates to the wrong table. His mind felt like silly putty - being wrenched in every which way - preventing him to focus on one thing.

It wasn't until a quarter to six in the evening, when Luke finally agreed with Lane and Ceaser to go up to his apartment after the lunch rush to relax, seeing as all he did was make them work even harder to clean up after his messes or re-cook food he had accidentally dropped. He decided that he could go up and start getting ready to meet Lorelai.

He trudged his way up the stairs to his apartment and headed straight for the bathroom. He fluently shed his clothes and removed his hat from its rightful place a top of his head and flicked his wrist, causing it to land on the sinks countertop, before he hopped into the shower.

He twisted the knob to the hot water on full blast, while he rotated the knob of the cold water just a little, only to mediate the heat. He allowed the warmth of the water to act as a disguise as it cloaked over him, drawing him deeper and deeper into conscientious thoughts.

The words that Lorelai had grudgingly let spill from her mouth earlier that day, overflowed his mind as it hurtled down upon him like ravening blood thirsty wolves. He stood under the tension relieving sprays of steam as his stomach tightened uneasily.

The look on Lorelai's face as she revealed her secret, played non-stop in his mind – like the 'It's a Small World' song – constantly playing over and over. The unceasing hollow feeling in the pits of his stomach didn't settle well with him, as the worst possible outcomes were the only images being shown in his head.

He knew he was a bit preoccupied with the whole April ordeal, but Lorelai understood the situation – at least he thought she did. All he wanted was a little time alone to spend with his daughter and to get to know her before he introduced her to Lorelai, which would cause him to be forgotten in the mix.

He knew any normal person in their right mind would choose to spend time with Lorelai over him any day, and he was one of them. And with that being said, the only thing in his life that he had absolutely no doubt about, was indeed Lorelai. She was the one and only thing in his life that he was always so sure of, so for her to say and think that he didn't want her threw him for a loop.

Luke quickly lathered himself with his soap and cleaned up. He stepped out of the shower and dried off. As he got dressed, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror over the sink. He sighed at his own image before he replaced his hat on top of his head and exited back into his apartment.

He scurried around trying to tick off time as he busied himself in washing the few dishes in the sink, fixing his bed and tidying up the place. He rested his hands on his hips as his brows creased at the sight.

 _Why was he washing dishes in the apartment? Why was there a need to fix the bed? And why the hell were most of his things still there?_

Luke had hardly been spending nights at Lorelai's place, which was supposed to be _their_ place. He couldn't even remember the last time he spent the night there, let alone when the last time they had been intimate.

Had it really been that long? He stopped to think and concluded that the fact that he felt like a hormone crazed teenager when Lorelai basically pounced on him, was evidence enough that it had definitely been a while.

Luke growled in frustration. He looked at his watch and seen that it was now 6:30pm. He had thirty more minutes before he would meet Lorelai, so he retrieved his keys, his wallet and his phone and headed downstairs to check on the diner before heading over to Lorelai's.

* * *

As Lorelai drove down the street, two buildings away from Luke's, she had got the glimpse of a familiar face, which caused her to slow her speed and gradually come to a stop next to the man.

"Hey there, Houdini!" She called out to him, which caused the man to turn in her direction and smile at seeing her.

The man was none other than Billy. He walked up to the passenger side window, "You always call people by the wrong name?" He teased, his voice low, but the corners of his mouth held still upwards.

Lorelai shook her head playfully, "Nah, just a lucky few."

Billy smirked giving Lorelai yet again that familiar feeling of clueless placing, "Well don't I feel special." He commented, which earned him a full smile from Lorelai.

"That's because you are. Face it, you're stuck with me, until you leave town, buddy." Lorelai joked.

"I'm not seeing the threat." He replied easily, making Lorelai's cheeks tint a shade of pink.

"I thought you were heading out to your cabin this week?" Lorelai asked, changing the subject.

"I am." He nodded, "I leave tomorrow morning. I just got through having dinner and was about to head back."

"Oh nice. Check in with the Mrs.?" She questioned.

"Exactly." He smiled, "What about you? Where are you off to?"

Lorelai turned to point at Luke's before she turned back and replied, "There."

"Your fiancée's?" Billy asked.

"Yeah." She replied shortly.

"You gonna talk to him?" He asked, cutting to the chase.

Lorelai nodded, "I figured now or never, right?" Once again feeling as though she had knew this man for years, when in actuality it was less than a week.

Billy nodded, "Just remember, it's all gonna be okay." He reassured her "Also, when you go on your break, try the no contact thing for minimum at least one week." He told her, gaining raised brows from Lorelai, "Trust me." He said firmly, but sincerely causing Lorelai to question why she did indeed trust this man, "He'd be a fool not to go crazy without you."

Lorelai gave Billy a sad smile, "Is it bad if I'm hoping he does?" She asked, causing Billy to chuckle.

"Not at all." Billy shook his head, "I think it's completely normal and justified in this case."

Lorelai smiled a little bigger, "Good" she spoke softly.

"Hey?" Billy called to her softly, causing Lorelai to look up at him, "Go get em'. And don't back down, darlin'. You need this, so take it." Lorelai nodded. "Well, I've gotta head back now, but good luck and I'll see you around soon."

"Well, I'm actually gonna be leaving for a week or two, so maybe not. You might be gone before I get back." Lorelai informed him, a little bummed about the thought of not running into him anymore.

"Nah, I'll be around." Billy shook his head with a smirk grazing his lips, "I told you that already. If you need me, I'll be around… somehow." Lorelai raised her brows in question, "Houdini" He explained to her as he pointed to himself, "remember?" He finished, causing her to laugh softly.

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll see you around then." She spoke hopefully.

"No doubt about that, Ms. Gilmore." He replied as he tapped the door of her jeep, shot her a wink that caused Lorelai's insides to flutter with the similarities in Luke and Billy, before he turned to walk away.

Lorelai took a few minutes to gather herself, before she got out of her car and headed towards the diner. She mentally prepared for the worst. She hated crying, because crying to her meant weakness, but in this case her tears were beyond the point of being able to control, so she hoped that she could at least get everything out as clearly as possible.

Lorelai finally made it to the diner and walked up the few steps to the door. She laid her hand on the handle as she whispered, "Here we go."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** If ya'll haven't recognized, the title of this chapter comes from one of my favorites; _Counting Stars – One Republic._ There's relatable meanings within the song that I loved and automatically thought of LL. My goal is an edit each week, if I can get to it faster, I definitely will. Thanks again for all the follows, favorites and reviews. Ya'll are awesome!


	7. Cornering Confrontation

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** Wow! Pat on the back for me. Two updates in one week. The edits are getting easier, because I was actually paying more attention to grammatical details later on through the story. Pretty sure the next update will be next week, but maybe sooner, who knows lol. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 7: Cornering Confrontation_

The bells jingled cheerfully as Lorelai made her way into the diner, causing her to roll her eyes and silently groan in opposite to its glee. The place was nearly empty, considering it was the lull before the dinner rush, but Lorelai couldn't help the unpleasant feeling that pulled relentlessly at the strings of her heart. The horrid feelings constrained her to the dreadful emotions that barreled erratically within her.

Her eyes anxiously scanned the diner for Luke as she also scoped the place out for the town's biggest gossipers – which to her relief were not present. Lorelai walked to the edge of the counter – opposite of the cash register – and slid onto the last stool with a heavy sigh. She rested her elbows on top of the counter's surface as she shaded her face with her hands and closed her eyes.

Her mind clouded with an infinite amount of different scenarios that could take place once she revealed the depth and explanation to Luke about what she meant by her earlier slip that day. Although she felt the cosmic amount of uneasiness that churned inside of her, she also felt the slightest sense of composure.

She deduced that that little tiny ray of hope existed only because of her unintentional run in with Billy. She didn't quite understand how someone she barely knew – someone she had only met a total of three times, had managed to inexplicably open a gate deep within her that she hadn't allowed access to anyone. Not her parents, not Sookie, not Mia, not even Rory, she didn't allow anyone fully in, except – Luke… and now Billy.

She couldn't stop the constant question of why? Her answers would boil down to Billy's generous ability to be there and ask or say the right things at the right times, just like Luke used to. He allowed her to talk when she wanted to and was ready, while he listened – actually listened. He would give her advice or say subtle sweet comments in a gruff way that made her smile and feel better.

Lorelai knew all these traits were qualities that Luke held, which is what she connected was the reason of why she was so drawn to Billy. He reminded her of Luke in so many ways and yet she didn't want to jump his bones – even though she did deem him very attractive – her heart was for Luke and Luke only, no matter what he was doing to it.

She pegged Billy to be the male version of Mia. Mia being there like a mother – but not at all looking to replace the one she already had – she came aboard as a great friend who was solely there to help and make sure her well being was looked after, which was the exact feelings she picked up from Billy.

Billy was there in a fatherly manner, but not trying to replace the one she'd been given. She felt as if he truly cared for her, even if they had just met, he was very genuine and kind. He consoled her when he didn't even know who she was. He didn't once hit on her and yet he said things that made her feel beautiful.

He made her feel good about herself again, inside _and_ out. No one had the capability to do that to her, except Luke, but he had been making her feel the opposite as of lately, so she welcomed the compliments and warm sentiments with gratitude.

Lorelai's train of thoughts was swiftly cut off at the sound of shoes shuffling closer to her. She felt her breathing pick up as her heartbeat hammered in her throat, but she didn't lift her face from her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and held her breath, waiting to hear Luke's voice.

"Hey Lorelai!" came the jovial voice of Ceasar, which made Lorelai exhale a sigh of relief as she lowered her hands to reveal just her eyes, "Coffee?" he asked, lifting the pot in his hand with a smile.

She nodded and allowed her hands to drop into her lap.

Lorelai welcomed the freshly made brew as Ceasar slid it over. She cradled the mug with both hands and lifted it to her lips as she closed her eyes and inhaled the warm essence, just before she took a gluttonous gulp of the liquid, allowing it to spread its warmth to her insides. She permitted her eyes to open slowly as she flashed Ceasar a small smile of appreciation.

"Hey!" came Luke's surprised greeting as he walked out of the kitchen and made his way towards her.

"Oh my God!" she gasped in surprise, causing some of her coffee to splash over the edges of her mug as she fumbled with it at the sudden sound of his voice.

"Geez, sorry." He mumbled his apology as he looked around for a damp cloth.

Lorelai shook her head as she retrieved a napkin from the nearby dispenser, "No, it's okay. I wasn't paying attention."

Luke was about to reply as he continued to hunt for a cloth, but Ceasar spoke up, "I got it, Boss." he reacted quickly as he whipped out his damp cloth from his apron and swiped the area in front of Lorelai.

Lorelai shot Cesar an apologetic smile, "Thanks, Ceasar." She said softly.

"No problem, Lorelai." He replied as he threw the now dirty rag in the sink behind him and turned back to Lorelai, "You want a new one?" He asked cheerily.

Lorelai's eyes glanced quickly to Luke and before she could answer, Luke interjected, "I got it."

Ceasar nodded, "Okay." He turned back to Lorelai again, "Good seeing you, Lorelai."

"It was nice seeing you too, Ceasar." She replied and flashed him another smile – one that hadn't reached her eyes.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in months." He voiced as he tipped his head to the side in thought.

Luke reared his head back at hearing that comment and furrowed his brows, "What are you talking about? She's here almost everyday." He retorted.

Ceasar scrunched his face and shook his head slowly as he gave it more thought, "No. She hasn't." He began, "Lorelai has rarely been in here, and when she is, it's not for very long."

Lorelai's eyes widened at Ceasar's proclaimed observation. She quickly dropped her gaze to her lap as she tried to avoid either man's eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about, Ceasar?" Luke asked, clearly growing agitated with their current conversation.

"I'm not trying to make you mad, Boss." Ceasar reasoned, "I'm just saying, I noticed we're fully stocked on coffee grounds in the back and have been for the past couple of months." He explained to Luke easily.

Luke threw a hand out to his side as he questioned, "So?"

"Well, when Lorelai _is_ in here – how she normally is – we're either almost out or completely out by the end of each week."

Luke inhaled a breath through his nose as the muscles in his jaw jumped. His brows furrowed again as a thought came to him, "How the hell do you know about the quantity of the coffee? I make the coffee majority of the time and I make the orders." He exclaimed, pointing his finger at Ceasar with a smirk – thinking he had gotten him.

Ceasar shrugged and simply said, "I refill the coffee containers." He picked up the coffee pot and turned on his heels, "Have a good one, Lorelai. Hope to see you around soon." He called to her, gaining a nod and small smile from her as he scurried over to one of the loitering customers table.

Luke exhaled a defeated sigh through his nose as he pressed his lips into a thin line, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he clenched it tightly. He glanced over at Lorelai to see her looking down at her hands, which she couldn't quite keep still on top of the counter.

He reached a hand over and placed it on top of hers to still them. She flinched slightly, startled by the unexpected gesture, but raised her eyes to meet his as he flashed her a small hesitant smile, which she returned.

"You want something to eat?" he asked softly.

Lorelai shook her head, "No. I'm okay." She replied, then looked back to her hands, which were still covered by Luke's.

"You want more coffee?" He offered, hoping to break the awkwardness that kept building between them.

Lorelai lifted a hand and waved off the offer, "No, I'm good. Thanks."

He nodded, "Okay." He replaced the coffee pot onto the burner and returned in front of her. He cleared his throat, "I-um, I told Sookie that I would come over to your pla-"

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, she told me." She replied, looking up at him as she quickly cut him off at hearing him begin to once again refer to their house as only hers, "I just thought it would be easier if I came here." She lied.

Luke pressed his lips into a thin line as he nodded, "Okay. You wanna go upstairs or go back to your-" He began to suggest, but was once again cut off by Lorelai.

Lorelai shook her head, "Upstairs is fine." She answered in a rush, making sure she didn't have to hear his lame lines again and assuring she followed through with her initial plan of actually talking to Luke. But most of all, it was because Billy's words played repeatedly in her mind, telling her to talk to Luke and take the break.

Luke nodded, "Okay." He agreed, but made no move.

Lorelai slid off of her stool, standing at the end of the counter. She looked towards Luke and noticed he was just standing there, looking at her, so she gave him a quizzical look and gestured to the curtain that led upstairs, "Lead the way." She urged

Luke shook his head to clear the blur and quickly set in motion towards the curtain, "Right." He said as he held the curtain back for Lorelai to step through and continued to lead the way.

* * *

As they made their way upstairs, Luke opened the door to the apartment, allowing Lorelai to walk in ahead of him. She strolled over to the middle of the room, ignoring the new little touches he added to the apartment. She turned around to face Luke as she crossed her arms over her chest – subconsciously shielding her heart from the upcoming battle that was about to happen.

Luke closed the door and went to stand across from Lorelai, "You wanna sit on the couch or at the table?" He asked, a little wary, taking note of her demeanor.

"I'm okay." She replied.

In her mind, the only way she could stand her ground was to actually be standing and it allowed her to feel as if she were more powerful in the up right position.

Luke's brows raised in surprise, "Um- okay." He muttered as his nerves only rose with the silence. Luke continued to watch Lorelai as she took a few seconds to compose herself and situate her thoughts.

When she finally looked up and locked eyes with him, she slowly began to speak, "I-uh, I just wanted to say," She paused, trying to collect the right wording, "I-I wanted to apologize … about what happened earlier today."

Luke shook his head at her unnecessary apology, "No, Lorelai, there's no need for-"

Lorelai held up a hand to stop him, "Luke, even if I didn't deny the things I said earlier, saying them in the state I was in, just wasn't right."

Luke's brows creased in confusion, "What do you mean; the state you were in?"

Lorelai tried to ponder a reasonable explanation to how and why she was high earlier that day, without throwing Sookie and Jackson under the bus, "Well, long story short, I-um, was… high." She said the last word softly.

Luke's brows raised, "You were what?"

"I was-" she began to repeat.

"I heard what you said, I just-" He hesitated as he tried to gather his words, "Whe- Wha- How?" He asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"It was all just an accident. I grabbed the wrong desserts by mistake and it turns out, they were loaded." She answered with a shrug, not wanting to go too much in depth at the risk of Luke getting upset with the culprits.

"I'm still having trouble piecing together the 'why?'" He said as he swiped a hand roughly over his face, "So, help me out here. I want the long story, and don't leave anything out."

Lorelai exhaled heavily as she knew this was going to take longer than she originally planned. She looked over to the couch and armchair, figuring it might be better to sit for this explanation. She pointed towards the couch, signaling they should sit and swiftly opted to take up the armchair, granting herself some space.

As Luke situated himself on the couch, he noticed Lorelai take a seat in the chair instead of next to him and he furrowed his brows as he looked up at her, his eyes filled with questions and hurt.

She tried to ignore the tug that his look caused to the strings of her heart as she continued on as if she hadn't seen it. Realizing that Lorelai wasn't going to move from her spot, Luke scooted up to the end of the couch, nearest to her.

"Lately, I've been exhausted, Luke. I'm tired all the time and not really in the greatest of spirits," she began carefully.

She watched as Luke's face contorted from concerned to bemused to happy to angry, then finally settling on a mix of guilt and sympathy as she recounted the events that happened, from when she stepped foot into the kitchen of the Dragonfly, all the way until the moment she walked into the diner, almost a half an hour ago.

Luke stayed silent throughout the whole time as Lorelai retold him of what had happened. He couldn't help but chastise himself for not noticing some kind of sign that Lorelai was high earlier, since his sister had spent most of her years when they were kids in that state.

"But you're okay now though, right?" He asked tentatively.

Lorelai tipped her head to the side as she answered, "I'm not high anymore, if that's what you're asking."

Luke nodded, "Good. I'm-" He cleared his throat, "I'm sorry." His apology caused a little line to form between Lorelai's brows, "I should've known something was off. I mean you showed all the signs and I still didn't pick up on them." He said, causing Lorelai's heart to race, thinking he was _finally_ able to see everything clearly.

"Liz was high for majority of our childhood."

Lorelai's heart dropped, her hopes of Luke's realization was lost. Click went the lock.

He continued, "She'd have glassy red eyes, she'd laugh or joke about everything, and she'd have a huge appetite, a loopy smile and her eyes looked as if she was trying to stay awake." Lorelai's brows creased further with his reasoning, "You had it all." He said, which caused her to inhale sharply, "Granted your appetite wasn't for food, but still, everything else was right there. I'm sorry I didn't notice. I would've made you take a nap right away."

Lorelai exhaled the breath she had been holding and closed her eyes briefly, mentally trying to wash away the possibility of the old Luke resurfacing. He was still Clueless McGee.

She opened her eyes and slowly shook her head, "First of all, I only smoked pot twice, and both times were before Rory was born. Second, I'm- I'm not sorry about anything, Luke." She warranted with a little agitation creeping into her voice.

"What?"

"That was the first time in a long time, that I've felt that relaxed, Luke. I mean it's not like I wanna get relaxed in that way again, because I don't. But the general idea of just being able to have a break and feel no pressure of anything, that's what I want." She explained evenly.

"Okay." Luke nodded slowly, "I'm sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what you're trying to say." He told her totally clueless to her message.

Lorelai inhaled a deep breath, knowing it was now or never, "I've-uh, I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. Things that I didn't want to be thinking about, but had no choice." She began.

"What things?" he asked curiously.

She sighed shakily, "What is this?" She asked as she gestured between the two of them, "You. Me." She shrugged helplessly, "What are we?"

Luke's face quickly changed into pure confusion at the sudden change in topic, "What?"

"What are we?" She repeated, lifting a hand upward in question as she kept her voice low, but clear.

Luke's brows creased in puzzlement, "I don't fully understand what you're asking me, Lorelai." He replied perplexed.

Lorelai exhaled an exasperated sigh, "What are we, Luke? What is this?" She continued, while gesturing once more between the two of them.

Luke shook his head and shrugged, "We're- we're engaged." He answered almost dumfounded, "We're- uh, each other's fiancée's." seeing that those answers hadn't satisfied Lorelai, He added, "We're s-soon to be married."

Lorelai scoffed softly, "Are we?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes, Lorelai-" He tried to reassure her, but she cut him off.

"Because from my viewpoint, it doesn't seem like it's gonna happen." She didn't yell, she knew she had to save her strength, so she made an effort to control herself.

He shook his head, "What, Lorelai, no." He tried to deny, "Of course we're getting married."

"I'm having a really difficult time believing that." She countered, her eyes not hiding the pain and disbelief she felt.

He scooted even closer to the edge of the couch as he reached for her hands in panic and held them in his, trying to get closer to her, "You will. We will." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze trying to emphasize his words, "We will get married, its just-" He began, but Lorelai cut him off.

"When?" She asked as she looked into his eyes and pushed past his words that were beginning to fall on deaf ears.

"Soon." He answered unconvincingly, "I- I told you that."

"Yeah." Lorelai exhaled a disappointed sigh and nodded, "Yeah, you have." She agreed softly, then pressed her lips together in thought. She pulled her hands free from his grasp, before she continued, "I think I've been patient, though, right?" She stated more than questioned, her voice beginning to break.

Luke looked like a lost puppy trying to find his way home, "Huh?"

"I've waited. I've stayed away. I've listened and stayed quiet. I've basically turned into the female version of Boo." The months of frustration beginning to flow out as she ranted

Luke being Luke, looked befuddled at the reference, "Who?"

Lorelai didn't stop to answer him, "But no more. No more, because honestly? I'm tired, Luke... physically and emotionally tired." Her voice cracking slightly as she fought to keep her tears at bay, "Everyday for the past couple of months, I walk around town like I'm Igor or something, just skulking and bowing to your every command, but no more. No more."

"Lorelai, what are you talking about?"

"Luke, I.." she shook her head slowly, knowing that this is what needed to be done, so with a sigh she continued with little strength, "Luke.. I can't." She let out softly as she looked up with pain stricken watery eyes to meet his.

His brows still furrowed, he asked, "What do you mean; 'You can't', you can't what?" the panic in his voice kept rising.

Mustering up every bit of nerve she replied a little firmer, "I can't do this to myself anymore, Luke." She said softly as she shook her head grudgingly and exhaled "I can't be in this knowing that I'm in it _alone_. I can't want this," she pointed between both of them, "by myself."

She kept her eyes locked on his face, which was filled with regret, his eyes pained and his mouth agape, desperately trying to find words to voice.

Lorelai didn't wait and continued, "I really did try, Luke. You have to know that I tried. But this isn't… this isn't how it's supposed to be. As of lately, I constantly feel miserable, just… so unhappy. I feel like I've become a totally different person." She unloaded her feelings, only pausing to take a breath.

"I've tried to respect you and give you your space, but it's to the point where I feel like we don't even know each other anymore. To the point where we're not each other's fiancée's or even each other's friends for that matter. It's more like… we're colleagues. It's as if being with me is work for you. And-"

"No! No, Lorelai, no!" finally finding his voice, Luke jumped in, "I want to be with you. I want this. I want us." He pledged desperately, "I've just been so wrapped up with things and…" He exhaled through clenched teeth as he again tried to find the words to explain.

Lorelai swiped a stray tear from her cheek, "I know, Luke. I'm not blaming April." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before she looked back at him, "But I meant everything that I said. I can't be in a relationship with someone who's half in and half out." She held up a hand to stop Luke from trying to rebuttal, "You may have wanted this before everything happened, but you're not in this, Luke." She shook her head slowly as the tears began to fall freely, "At least not anymore."

Luke didn't even try to mask the tears that had quickly built in his eyes, "Lorelai" He breathed, "I do. I do want it _all_ with you" He stammered, "I just- I just need time to-"

Lorelai held her hand up again to stop him, "I remember this tree." She started, "We've been here before and the results weren't good." She brushed another tear from her cheek, "You asked for time the first go round and I didn't give you any – _strike one_."

Luke reared back at her knowledge of sports reference, "You asked for time again and this time I gave it to you in fear that if I pushed too hard again, I'd lose you. I felt even more pathetic this time around though, because the more you pulled away, the tighter I tried to hold on – _strike two_." She croaked with a shrug, "That's why before we can get to strike three – God, I really don't wanna get to strike three – I've been thinking a lot about our situation and the only solution I keep coming back to, is for us to…" She locked her gaze on his before she whispered, "take a break."

"Take a break?" Luke blinked in surprise, "As in break up?" He questioned, the hurt clear in his voice.

Lorelai shook her head, "No. Take a break as in – we take some time apart from each other, sort through our thoughts and get our priorities straight. Think about whether or not we still wanna be in this relationship – For _you_ : If it's worth continuing, and for _me_ : If I can keep being treated as an afterthought and made to feel unwanted by someone who means the world to me."

It was Luke's turn to shake his head, as he said, "No, Lorelai, no! You know I love you. I'm- I'm just so stretched thin and I can't multi-task that well, you know that too, but I love you and I want to be with you. You gotta know that." He pleaded, the desperation oozing thickly in his voice as he was witnessing his happiness being stripped from his grasp.

Lorelai took a tissue from the container on the end table and wiped away her tears, only for fresh ones to fall, "I know." She nodded, "I know that deep down you do love me, but you're an actions guy, Luke, and as of lately you've been showing me the opposite."

Luke scooted closer to her again and took her hands into his, "Don't do this, just… give me time and I'll figure out a way to fix this." He begged, his tears beginning to burn his eyes, "I'll fix it." He pleaded.

"I'm not really asking for this break, Luke, I'm telling you… because we need this. Both of us." She told him softly, her heart feeling as if it had dropped to her stomach at seeing Luke's pained expression, "I'm afraid if we don't take this break now, nothing will change, or worse, we'll get to strike three… and I really don't wanna get to strike three, Luke." She sniffled.

"I lost you once – I don't really have you now, but I don't think I could handle losing you again, or anymore of this. It's just too much." She sniffled again, hoping he'd understand.

"Lorelai" He breathed helplessly, his eyes still filled with tears as he tried to hold them back from falling, but failed miserably as a rogue tear slipped down his cheek, "Please…"

"We have to do this, Luke." Lorelai couldn't stop the stream of tears that continued to cascade down her face, "I've tried everything and none of it worked. Things have only gotten worse, and you still won't let me in." She cried, "How can we be together when you have a whole other life that I'm not allowed to be a part of?" She offered.

"This time apart will hopefully set our priorities straight, allow the both of us to gage whether or not this relationship is still what we both want and whether or not both of us is willing to fight for it." She inhaled a shaky breath, trying to regain some composure, "I love you, Luke. I love you… so much, but my heart is in so many pieces that I don't know where to start when I try to put it back together."

"Lorelai, please, let me-" He stumbled, "I want this. I want _you_ – God, I want you – you're the only thing that I've ever wanted so badly, it's just now with April, I don't know what to do. I want to fix us, please, just give me time to fix it." He begged again, hoping she'd understand his complicated situation.

Lorelai pushed past his plea as she said, "I'm gonna go away for a week, maybe two-"

"Wait, no, what?" He flustered.

"For the first week, I wanna test out a theory that was suggested – it's no contact for minimum of at least a week," As she spoke, Luke vigorously shook his head in disagreement, "I want the both of us to get the full effect of not having the other in our life. What we would do, how we'd feel and what we wanna do about it after the time is up." She finished, trying to stay strong.

"No! Absolutely not." Luke swiped his cheek at the stray tears, "What does that even mean? Are we not engaged anymore? Are you free to date while we're apart? What if you change your mind and don't wanna get back together? No! No, no, no, no!" He ranted his fears to her.

"There will be _no one_ else allowed into this. No dating, no seeing of anyone, nothing. That goes for _both_ of us." She reassured him, "I mean unless you-"

"No." He said firmly.

His sureness made the corners of her mouth to turn up, happy that he still didn't want anyone else, "Okay."

"How long is this break thing gonna be?" He rasped, feeling helpless.

"I don't know." Lorelai shrugged, because in all honestly she wasn't exactly sure, "The initial no contact will be just a week, but the overall break?" She shrugged again and answered softly, "However long it takes to fix what's been broken… or until you want out-"

"I don't." He said with certainty, his eyes bore through hers firmly, "I won't"

Lorelai nodded, "Good." She flashed him a small sad smile and gave his hands a squeeze, before she slid them fully out of his grasp and stood up, causing him to follow.

"Wait, where will you be?" He asked in a rush.

"I have somewhere that I can go." She assured him.

"Where?" He pushed, needing to know.

Lorelai shook her head, "After the first week, I'll let you know. You can come out and meet me and we can talk. See what we've realized after the short time apart."

"What? No! Lorelai, I can't not know where you are for a whole week. I'll go crazy." He started heatedly.

Lorelai gave a small smile and shrugged, " Maybe that's a good thing." She tried to joke lightly.

Luke's eyes grew wide as his brows creased, "Lorelai" He growled.

"Luke, I'll be fine." Lorelai stopped him, "I promise. Someone will know where I am at all times." She promised, "But until I give them the okay, my location stays private, but I can assure you, you'll be the first to know once I'm ready and decide to lift the privacy tag."

Luke growled with frustration, he didn't like this one bit, but knew that Lorelai wouldn't back down and she wouldn't lie to him about something like this. He sighed heavily, "I don't like this." He said gruffly as he pointed a finger towards the floor trying to emphasize his point.

"Me neither." She agreed, "But I need you to do this for me. For _us_. Please, Luke." She asked softly.

Luke clenched his teeth and inhaled a sharp breath as he closed his eyes, "Lorelai" He breathed softly, the regret and sadness seeping through his words.

Lorelai held his gaze and nodded in understanding. She licked her lips and softly bit her bottom lip, contemplating her next move. She closed her eyes and took a slight step forward as she tipped her face up to his, just as his eyes fell shut as well.

She allowed her lips to gently brush his with a soft kiss, but before she could pull back, Luke lightly cradled her face in his hands and captured her bottom lip between both of his as he suckled on it tenderly.

Lorelai let out a soft moan as she felt Luke permit his tongue to glide against her lip, right before he placed a final kiss to her lips. He trailed another kiss to each cheekbone – tasting the saltiness from her tears on his lips – then pressing a final kiss to her forehead, where he allowed his lips to linger for a long moment.

As he pulled back, both of their eyes slowly opened only to lock with each other's magnetizing blue eyes. Each pair of eyes holding an infinite amount of emotions as they silently willed the other to read their minds.

Lorelai was the first to break eye contact as she whispered, "I better get going." She looked over to his microwave clock to see it had been almost two hours since she had arrived, "It's getting late and you have to close up." She flashed him a small smile as she began walking towards the door, with Luke hot on her trail.

As Lorelai's hand made contact with the door, Luke whispered from behind her, "I don't want you to go." His voice still thick with anguish.

Lorelai sniffled and nodded, not turning around from her position, "I know."

"Stay" He begged as he reached a hand out to lightly place on her shoulder.

Lorelai sighed sadly as she turned her face slightly to look at his hand. She reached her free hand to touch his and gave it a gentle squeeze as she replied, "I wish it were that easy." She let go of his hand, allowing it to slide down her back as she opened the door and took a step out.

She paused again, turned her head to look at him and whispered, "Goodnight Luke."

Before she turned back around and closed the door behind her – not stopping her stride until she made it to her jeep – leaving Luke glued to the same position, as he stared at the spot Lorelai had just vacated.

Once Lorelai had safely made it to her car, she quickly started it up and headed home, hoping to God that this was the right thing to do and her plan would come out in both of their favor.

* * *

As she pulled up to her driveway, Lorelai parked her jeep in her usual parking spot under the tree and made her way into her house. She shed her coat and hung it in its rightful place, before she walked past the archway and dropped her keys to the desktop table. She saw the red flashing light coming from the phone and reached over to press the button on the machine to hear her messages.

"You have one new message – new message:" the robotic voice announced.

"Lorelai, it's your mother." Came the voice of Emily Gilmore, as Lorelai went to plop herself down on the couch.

"I've just spoken to Lorene and the owners pushed for the repairs to be done as well as their departure to quicken. The house is ready when you are. I have the keys; so call me when you receive this message. I have an early brunch, with a few women from an upcoming function we are preparing for tomorrow at 10am. I'll talk to you soon, Lorelai." The machine clicked off indicating its end.

Lorelai leaned her head on the back of the couch, looking up at the ceiling as she blew out an exasperated sigh. She allowed one corner of her lips to rise upward in a smile as she whispered, "Perfect."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks again. Stoked for the continuous love and support for this story of mine. I promised justice for our beloved LL and I'm working on it. Love you all! - _**KISF**_


	8. Aftershock Awareness

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** If you haven't noticed, my disclaimer is always the same, but yay to another edit.

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 8: Aftershock Awareness_

After everything was said and done, Luke had collapsed in defeat onto his armchair. It had taken him a drawn out period of time to register the situation that had transpired just moments ago.

Lorelai was gone.

She poured her broken heart out to him with heavy struggle, she cried tears that had been waiting to be set free and departed to God knows where, for God knows how long.

He didn't exactly know when the next time he would see her again. She had said a week, but what if she changed her mind? He didn't fully understand the rules of this break and how long it could go on for. He knew they couldn't contact each other for a whole week, but she also said that the break would last for however long it took to fix everything that needed to be fixed.

That was the part that scared Luke. What if it took more than a week? What if it took months? Surely it wouldn't take years… right? No, no way. He wouldn't allow it. He needed to fix this. He _wanted_ to fix it. He knew they had to work on a lot of things, but in his mind the only way they could do that was together… preferably in the same room.

The worst part of it was that Luke had allowed it all to happen. He had an internal battle about whether or not that statement was true. He argued that he did put up a fight to make her stay, he spouted words that one would claim worthy of expressing his love, but then the opposing side would stubbornly retort, _'Was it a good enough fight? Because if it was, wouldn't she still have been there?'_

The unremitting back and forth debate had seized when Luke finally came to the conclusion that in the end, Lorelai was the one in control of what was happening now – which she had rightfully taken the reins to. She had ordered for them to take a break and 'No' was not an option being offered.

This time apart was happening whether he wanted it to or not. Her distraught face and aching words that spilled from her lips were relentless in his mind. He couldn't believe he had let it get to this. Lorelai had had enough of the agonizing torture he was putting her through and took matters into her own hands as best as she could.

He knew she wasn't herself anymore, but he hadn't had the courage to voice his observation out of fear of her realizing just that and doing something drastic to change it. He was keeping her at arms length, but he couldn't lose her. That logic failed him though, because she had left and it was he that was to blame.

The love of his life had begged to be given time _away_ from him. It had pained him deeply to witness the hurt and desperation that trickled from her voice. The dark hue under her eyes gave away that she hadn't been getting very much sleep and she looked as though she had lost weight – which made sense from her lack of appearance in the diner according to Ceasar – which he presumed was also his fault.

He had caused her to forego her beloved coffee and daily sustenance. His own moronic insecurities of being a good father had chased her away from not only having contact with his daughter, but with the diner and him as well. He knew all she wanted to do was help and be there for him, and yet he still held her at bay.

How could he be so blind to the anguish he was causing her to endure when it was clearly being displayed in front of his face? He of all people could read her better than she could herself. It was as if he held a super power for only her and could sense her emotions before she could even utter a word. The sad thing was, in the times when he most needed to summon that special ability, it was nowhere to be found.

Now, the one and only woman that meant everything in the world to him couldn't even be in the same room as him, let alone the same town. It was all just too much for her. She felt the need to leave her home and it all boiled down to one reason… him.

Luke hadn't realized just how long he had been sitting in his chair, staring at his blue flannel shirt – that Lorelai had claimed as hers after their first date – which lay over his lap as one of his hands held it tightly while his thumb as he gently brushed over the soft material. He looked up to be greeted with the morning rays of the sun that was just beginning to peak.

Luke glanced over to the alarm clock that was perched on his nightstand and read: 4:48AM. He gripped the shirt tighter, causing his knuckles to turn white. He needed to do something. He couldn't just sit there and let her leave without knowing more. He needed to know when he would see her again. He couldn't _not_ know.

He had to go to her before she had a chance to leave. He needed to try one more time to talk to her. He wanted to clear things up a bit more. He didn't know what to do, but he did know that he needed to get to her. Maybe he could convince her to stay, then again, maybe not. Either way, he needed to see her and he needed to see her _now_.

He quickly got up from his chair, now jazzed with adrenaline and breezed over to his dresser. He retrieved his keys and fled through his apartment, racing down the stairs and out of the diner in hot pursuit to get to Lorelai.

* * *

Psychological mastermind, _Brian Tracy_ created the _Law of Control_. It states that people feel good about themselves to a certain degree to which causes them to feel that they are in control of their own lives.

When people are physically, mentally and emotionally controlling the changes in their lives, then these feelings naturally lead to higher levels of achievement, emotional satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment.

However, uncontrolled change can lead to stress, anxiety, frustration and misery — unfortunately all of which Lorelai had been reluctantly subjected to for the past couple of months… until now.

Lorelai did it. She couldn't believe she actually did it. She had stood her ground and told Luke exactly how she felt without shying away. It was hands down one of the most hardest things she had done in her life, – and that's compared to her pushing a human being out of herself – but she did it and she felt a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

She scurried around her room, topping off the lasts of her necessities to her bags just before she zipped it up and paused in the doorway, briefly scanning over the room. She squeezed her eyes shut, reprimanding the warm stinging sensation that attempted to break free as she took in the image of her cold and empty bedroom.

She slowly allowed her eyes to open and prayed that this would be the last time she would have to look at her once sanctuary, in this uneasy state. She quietly shut the door and shrugged her bags onto her shoulder and into her hand as she made her way down the steps.

Just as her foot came into contact with the ground floor, Lorelai dropped her bags clumsily, flying her right hand over her clamoring heart as she was startled by the rush of frantic knocks sounding from the front door.

She looked over to the clock on the wall above the hallway desk and frowned in confusion when she read: 5:03AM. _Who in their right mind would be up this early?_ She thought as she slowly made her way towards the front door, but just as fast as the thought had formed, she answered her own internal question, for she knew of only one person to be up promptly at the crack of dawn. Her pace grew sluggish with the thought of the unknown early morning visitor.

Lorelai sighed with a mix of sadness and nervousness as her suspicion of her visitor was confirmed when she rounded the corner and made out the blurred form of Luke standing on the opposite side of the glass paned door.

She quickly steeled herself in preparation for round two. She closed her eyes and exhaled through her mouth as she paused with her hand on the knob, before she unfastened her lids and slowly opened the door.

Her eyes immediately locked with Luke's, "Luke–" She breathed.

"We need to talk." He rushed out in a pant as he softly pushed past her into the house.

Slightly befuddled, Lorelai blinked in surprise. She closed the door and followed him into the living room. "Luke, what's–"

He cut her off as he paced in front of her, "I've been thinking. I haven't stopped thinking since you left actually, but I have and I needed to talk to you before I missed my chance and you left." He stopped and looked her in the eyes, "I don't want you to go–"

Lorelai looked down "Luke–" She sighed sadly.

"No wait." He stopped her and began pacing again, "I know you have your reasons and I get it, really, I do," He nodded, "but I think we could get more things done together. We can fix it together. Work through the things we need to work though, _together_." His voice began to take on an ounce of desperation as he continued, "We can't do this apart. I don't want to be apart. I know I've been the world's biggest idiot, but I can change. I _want_ to change." He stopped in front of her and breathed, "I just couldn't let you leave without at least trying to do something about it."

Lorelai blew out a tired breath and closed her eyes as her hand came up to softly pinch the bridge of her nose. Of course Luke would pull something like this right before she was about to leave.

Lorelai inhaled and removed her hand from her nose to run it threw her hair, "I- I need coffee." She said quietly as she shook her head and turned to head into the kitchen.

Luke nodded and followed close behind. He watched as Lorelai filled the coffee pot with water, "You want me to…" He trailed off as he gestured towards the pot.

Lorelai glanced at him over her shoulder and shook her head, "Thanks. I got it." She declined politely.

Luke pressed his lips into a thin line as he nodded his head. He allowed his eyes to anxiously dart around the room, while his hands wrung, unable to keep still. Lorelai turned around and leaned up against the counter as she waited for her coffee to finish brewing. She looked towards Luke and sighed at his apprehension.

"You want something to drink?" She offered.

Luke's eyes snapped up at the sound of her voice. He stilled and cleared his throat, "Um, no. No, I'm okay."

Lorelai nodded silently and turned to pour herself a cup of coffee. She raised the mug to her lips and took a greedy sip before turning back to face Luke. She sighed exhaustedly, "I thought we understood each other about this, Luke?"

Luke nodded shortly, "Yeah, I know, but–"

"Luke," She stopped him. She deposited her mug back onto the counter behind her and faced him again, "this will only happen again and again." Luke shook his head to object, "Don't shake your head, because it will."

"No. It won't happen. I won't allow it." He supplied firmly as he chopped the air with emphasis.

"But it already happened, Luke. It happened." Her voice raised a bit, causing Luke to wince, "It's happening." She whispered.

They both fell quiet as she allowed those words to sink in.

"Look, I'm glad." She sighed deeply, before continuing, "I'm glad that you want to fix us. It just shows me that _my_ Luke, the Luke I know, is still in there somewhere, fighting. And I agree, we do need to be together to fix most of these things that brought us to this," Luke's brows raised with a little bit of hope, " _but_ " She highlighted, "that doesn't mean I think we shouldn't take some time apart first."

Luke sighed heavily, dropping his eyes to the ground as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I'm not trying to make this any harder than it has to be, but you were right." Lorelai continued softly, causing Luke to look back to her curiously, "You need time." His face contorted with regret as his lips parted, "We both do." She paused, allowing Luke to absorb her words, "I may have not been clear about this before, but I didn't think I needed to be. I thought you would automatically know exactly what we were to do during this break, but that was wrong of me." She shook her head as her brows creased slightly with her words, "I should've known better than to assume, hell, that's what got us here in the first place." She ran a hand through her hair and flipped it over her shoulder and resumed looking at him.

Luke continued to stay quiet as he watched Lorelai prepare for another set.

"When I said; _we should take a break_ , I don't think I elaborated on the specifics as much as I should have." She began again, "As I said, I want there to be no contact for minimum of at least a week. We need time to separately work through things on our own. We both need that time to situate ourselves as well as think without the pressure of the other." She took a breathe, "I want each of us to think really hard about whether or not we still wanna be in this relationship, because I've made a huge effort in doing it your way and none of it worked. So, this time, I wanna try things my way."

Luke nodded, "Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

Lorelai's brows furrowed as her head reared back and as a bit of anger arose in her voice, "No." She shook her head, "That's not how it works, Luke. I can tell you what I'm feeling and what I want, but I can't tell you what to do. I'm your–" She looked to the ground briefly as she said, "fiancée" then she looked back at him, "not your mother."

As soon as those last words slipped out, she immediately regretted them, especially after seeing Luke flinch and inhale a sharp breath.

Lorelai's stern expression instantly turned into remorse, "Luke, I'm–" She shook her head, inwardly reprimanding herself, "I'm so sorry. That was totally uncalled for. I didn't think. I'm- I'm sorry." She apologized.

Luke's eyes stayed towards the floor as he tried to wave it off, knowing she didn't intentionally mean to hurt him, "It's okay." He answered softly.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, it's not. It was completely insensitive and thoughtless on my part, and I am so sorry. I didn't mean it to sound like I was insulting your mother." She spoke just as soft.

Luke nodded and swallowed thickly, "I know." He looked back up to her, meeting her sorrowful eyes, "I know." He repeated.

Lorelai allowed them to both have a moment of silence as she regained her thoughts, before she carried on, "This is hands down one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but if things got worse and I had to let you go… it would kill me." She sighed, "I can't- I can't keep waiting for something that might never happen, Luke. I want you. I want a life with you. I want a family with you, but what I want doesn't mean anything if you don't want for the same things."

"I do." He answered without hesitation.

"You keep saying that," She nodded, "but how am I suppose to believe it, when you won't even allow me to properly meet your daughter, let alone be in the same room as her? The only time you were willing to permit me any access, was when you were at your wits end and was clueless on what to do with April's birthday situation. I mean, I'm more than happy to help, but not only as a beck-and-call girl for when you're desperate and at your lowest. I wanna be there. I want it all, the highs, the lows, the in-betweens, everything. That's how a relationship works."

Luke blinked fast and pressed his lips, as he knew what she was saying was right.

"I honestly, don't understand why you feel the need to keep us separated, but if you can't find a way to mend together the two worlds that you've disjointedly built, then I can't get behind that." She said shaking her head, "I don't want just half of you, Luke, I told you that already. I want you. All of you. And I know that that includes April, because she's a part of you, and I have absolutely no problem with that. I just can't wrap my mind around the fact of why _you_ do." She shrugged.

Luke knew he needed to say something, but he just didn't know what to say. She was right. About everything.

Lorelai visibly swallowed, "That's just some reasons of why I think this break for us will help to put things in perspective. Not just for you, for me as well. You said you needed time, right?" She asked looking directly into his eyes.

Luke clenched his teeth causing the muscles in his jaw to jump. He knew he shouldn't, but he nodded, because it was the truth.

Lorelai nodded, "You got it."

Luke's nose flared as he exhaled a short breath, "Lorelai… I didn't want-" He shook his head slowly, "not like this." His voice strained with obvious struggle.

Lorelai needed to make him understand her reasoning, so she nodded silently and offered, "Can you honestly say that you could connect that bridge right now, if I asked you to?"

Luke swallowed thickly as he stood rooted to the floor, unable to give her an answer.

Lorelai looked off to the side and bit her lip, before returning her gaze to his, "That's what I thought." She sighed, "I don't think you realize that I'm drowning here, Luke. I'm drowning and the more we continue on with this ridiculous charade, the further I sink. All I'm asking for is a line, not a boat, not a even a raft, just a line, but you're not throwing it. And the longer I wait, the heavier I get, and the heavier I get, the deeper I sink. And all that sea of salt water that I'm drowning in, is my tears." She pointed up towards the ceiling, "I can only imagine how much my pillow hates me, because every time I actually do allow myself to fall asleep, I wake up to it completely drenched."

Luke's face displayed a mix of shame and remorse as he took in her words.

Lorelai didn't want to make matters worse, but she felt she needed to tell Luke everything before she left. "I have dreams." She started.

"Dreams?" He questioned softly.

"My dreams skip forward. I can't really say it projects my future, because I don't know what the future entails, so I chalk it up to being my greatest desires. It's never the same, but it contains the same people throughout them all." She explained, "Do you remember that dream I told you about a few years back when I stayed at your place, the night the Independence Inn caught fire?" She asked, keeping her voice soft.

Luke nodded as he vividly recalled her dream that brought an uncontrollable smile to his lips when she revealed it to him, "Yeah. Yeah, I remember."

Lorelai bit her bottom lip, "Well, it's exactly like that, only it's the after events of the pregnancy. You, me, the family that we built… and I wouldn't dare call them nightmares, in spite of me crying when I wake up, but I can't help but feel like they're mocking me. Just- presenting themselves to me, because they know that even though that's what I truly want, I'm nowhere near achieving it."

Luke wanted to ask what her dreams showed her, because if it was anything like the one he remembered her telling him all those years ago, then he wanted to know, but before he could get a word in, Lorelai picked up again.

She was on a role as she gestured her arms out to the house, "The house, this house, we renovated it to be ours, and yet I can't remember the last time you spent a night here. You don't even call it ours, you always refer to it as mine." Lorelai scrunched her eyes in distaste, "I hate that." She exhaled loudly and continued, "I'm not saying that all of this is your fault, because it's not. It takes two. I know I need to work on things as well. I can't keep things bottled up, just because I'm scared of the outcome."

Luke nodded in agreement, "Our communication with each other somehow disintegrated after we got together."

Lorelai nodded sadly, "Yeah it did. I'm sorry about that, because that's on me too. We both know that you're an actions guy and I'm a words girl. I know you don't like to voice too much, but... Sometimes, just sometimes, I _need_ the words."

Lorelai turned to retrieve her now cold cup of coffee and drained its remaining contents within it and moved over to wash it in the sink. She wiped it dry with the washcloth and replaced it in the cupboard above the counter next to Luke.

Luke quietly turned his body just slightly to face her, and reached a hand up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Lorelai stilled for a moment at the gesture, before closing the cupboard. Luke allowed his hand to slowly graze her cheek and down her arm, causing chicken skin to form where the backs of his fingers brushed.

"Luke" She breathed softly, her eyes shut as she reached a hand to grasp his. She turned to look him in his eyes where saddened sapphire met regretful cobalt.

Luke slowly snaked his free hand around Lorelai's waist and pressed her tightly to him as he inched his face closer to hers. Lorelai's eyes dropped as she felt his warm breath on her lips. Their breaths were shallow as it mixed as one. The heat radiated tremendously between them.

Luke leaned forward and softly brushed his lips over Lorelai's. She allowed her walls to fall as she captured his bottom lip between hers and gently suckled on it. Luke slowly consented his tongue to stray out and glide across Lorelai's upper lip, causing her to let out a soft moan as her hand dropped his in order to hold onto the collar of his flannel, while the other lay gently on his chest.

Luke took his queue and ran his fingers of both hands in her hair to cradle her to him. Their kisses grew more powerful with every passing second as they poured every emotion within them into their kiss. Luke ground his hips into Lorelai, triggering a deep moan to escape her lips.

Their passion oozed thickly between the two as their hands held tightly to the other, afraid that they would slip away if they loosened their grip. Lorelai's hips rotated into Luke's gaining a guttural groan from him, which caused Lorelai's brain to function again as she gently pushed Luke back and extracted her lips from his. They separated, giving each other a foot of space as they panted heavily with their eyes locked on the other.

"I'm sorry." Luke panted, "I just–" He trailed off slightly out of breath.

Lorelai nodded her head, "No, me too." She gasped as she kept her eyes on his unblinkingly.

Lorelai broke their gaze as she looked behind Luke to the green lights on the microwave that displayed the time, which read: 7:02AM. She looked back to Luke, only for his eyes to once again lock with hers.

"I um-" She cleared her throat, "I have to go." The look of panic that flashed in Luke's eyes didn't go unnoticed by Lorelai. She shook her head trying to calm him, "One week." She promised.

Luke swallowed thickly as he reluctantly nodded, "One week."

Lorelai hooked a thumb towards the living room, "I'm just gonna" She trailed off as she made her way into the living room.

Luke's heart raced as the clock ticked down and there was nothing he could do about it. He followed her into the living room only to see Lorelai picking up a duffle bag as she swung her purse over her shoulder. Luke dashed over to grab the duffle bag and lifted the handle to the suitcase that sat beside it.

Lorelai turned to look at him as he eased the duffle bag from her hand, "Thanks." She whispered gaining a small nod from Luke.

Lorelai made sure all the lights were off as she trailed behind Luke to the front porch where he waited. Just as she was about to close the door, she remembered something… or someone.

"Oops!" She gasped, "Almost forgot." She said as she rushed back in.

Luke waited curiously at the bottom of the steps to see what she forgot, only to get his answer a moment later as Lorelai came into view carrying Paul Anka down the stairs.

Luke shook his head and grunted, "Mutt."

Lorelai smirked as she glanced back at Luke, "Jealous?" She teased as she continued to heft Paul Anka to her jeep.

"Yes." Luke answered seriously.

Lorelai laughed softly, "Don't be." She replied as she deposited Paul Anka into the car, while Luke stowed away her luggage in the back.

She turned to face Luke with a small smile, "Too late." He replied as he gazed into her eyes, causing the smile to fade.

They stayed silent for a moment before Lorelai spoke up, "I'm…" She let hang as she motioned to the car.

Luke flexed his jaw as he sighed heavily, allowing his lack of enthusiasm to show clearly, while he reluctantly nodded.

Lorelai nodded back and leaned forward to give Luke a kiss goodbye, but Luke had other plans as he placed both hands on either side of her face and locked their lips together in a slow invigorating kiss.

He allowed their lips to stay connected for a moment longer before he pulled back to lean his forehead against hers, "Lorelai," He whispered breathlessly, "You gotta know that I love you…" His voice thick with emotion as he compelled his tears to withhold from escaping, "so much." He added lowly.

Lorelai cradled his cheek in her palm, "Aw Luke," She breathed, "you have no idea." She whispered softly, her breath mixing with his.

She pressed her lips to his once more, before releasing him and turning to open the door to her jeep, only for it to be locked and Paul Anka sitting in the driver's seat staring back at his two owners.

Lorelai's brows furrowed, "Dude, seriously? How in the heck do you do that?" She asked in bewilderment

Luke shook his head, "Crazy mutt."

Lorelai unlocked the door and shooed Paul Anka to the passenger side of the car as she slid in and closed the door. She unzipped her window as Luke leaned in.

"One week?" He asked uncertainly.

"One week." She confirmed, taking hold of his hand that rested on the door.

He sighed again, "If you need anything–"

Lorelai gave him a small grin, "I know and I will. I'll be okay, Luke. I promise." He grunted, obviously still not liking this one bit, "I'll talk to you soon." She promised.

"Not soon enough." He grumbled.

She smiled, "Bye, babe." She said as she started the car and put it in reverse.

Luke stepped back, "Bye." He replied softly as he watched her back out of her driveway and down the road, until her brake lights couldn't be seen anymore.

He blinked hard as he blew out an exhausted breath. He turned and made his way back to the porch and dropped to the top step heavily. He ran his hands over his face before clasping them together tightly, hoping to God, that the next seven days would go by as fast as they could.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Okay, this is moving along. Hopefully I have the new chapter up by next week. Well I said hopefully. Anyway, thanks again to all the love, follows, favorites and reviews. I love hearing from you all. For all the newbies, here's to the next chapter, and for all you that have stuck with me since day one, two more then the _real_ new chapter will finally be up haha. _**-KISF**_


	9. Destination Salutations

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** Yasss! You all rock. Loving the new insight and intrigue. I think I'm just as excited as you all for this story to keep going until it ends haha. Thanks a million.

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 9: Destination Salutations_

A magnitude of shades and hues of green and brown flew by as Lorelai drove past the countless trees in a blurred daze. The stone color of the concreted freeway blended with the massive aged greenery that decorated the roads backdrop, creating a beautiful array of affects.

Her body was on preset as her mind was far off in thought, contemplating the upcoming days she had ahead of her. Lorelai had only been on the road for fifteen minutes and throughout that short period of time, she continuously repeated the words, _'This is good'_ as she plastered a bogus smile on her face.

She still couldn't help when she felt uneasy, immediately after she slipped the gearshift into reverse as she backed away from her home and Luke. The vast feeling of absolute emptiness flooded over her and she couldn't seem to tamper it down.

She linked that reaction to being the same emotion she felt when she was eighteen years old with a one and a half year old, Rory, attached to her hip as she escaped the clutches of the Gilmore's confinements and left in search of freedom and a safe haven for her and her daughter.

Lorelai flicked her wrist to turn on her right blinker as she merged to take the cutoff ramp to Hartford. She inwardly ridiculed herself at the ironic situation of the turn of events as she ran away from the Gilmore's house then, and here she was seeking refuge in it now.

As she turned down the lane leading up to her parent's place, she couldn't help but silently be grateful for them. Although their timing in completely showing their support and acceptance towards her relationship with Luke was badly timed, they had ultimately gotten to that point on their own and their leap of approval had been very much appreciated by her. Especially, considering the past occurrences and turmoil they had caused between Luke and herself.

She still couldn't believe that she actually followed through with her plan. She knew she needed this, Luke needed this, their relationship _depended_ on this. She felt if they didn't take it, there would be no doubt that she would slowly, but surely, be eased out of Luke's life, which was basically already happening.

She put the jeep in park as she rolled up to the front of the driveway. She looked over to the occupied passenger seat, where Paul Anka laid with his head on his paws.

"I'll just be a few minutes, buddy. Mommy has to go talk to Grandma for a bit." She gently ruffled behind one of his ears, "Now, don't go leaving without me." She joked as she unzipped both of the front windows slightly, allowing air to flow through for her dog.

Lorelai inhaled a deep breath, readying herself to face the inevitable questions her parents surely held. She sighed as she exited the jeep and made her way to the large front door. She raised her hand to ring the doorbell that announced her presence.

Shortly after ringing the doorbell, a middle-aged, woman answered and greeted her with a thin smile, "Good morning, ma'am. How can I help you?"

Lorelai had learned long ago not to be surprised by a new face each week when it came to her mother's help. She returned the small smile, "Hi, I'm Lorelai Gilmore, Richard and Emily's daughter, are my parents home?"

Before the woman could reply, Emily's voice broke through as she bounded into the entryway, "Marie, who was at the–" Her question died on her tongue once she got a glimpse of her daughter standing outside of the threshold. Her head tilted slightly as a small flicker of happiness showed in her eyes, "Lorelai! What a pleasant surprise."

Lorelai flashed her mother an apologetic smile, "Hi mom, sorry for just dropping in like this–"

"Nonsense." Emily waved off, "Come in." Emily conducted, then turned to the maid and furrowed her brows, "Don't just stand there, Marie, take my daughter's coat."

Marie scurried to take Lorelai's coat from her as she softly muttered, "Sorry, Mrs. Gilmore."

Emily wore a disapproving glare, which if possible, would've burned a hole through Marie's back. As Marie gathered Lorelai's coat, she quietly asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you ma'am?"

"No, Marie, that'll be all for now." Emily dismissed, holding the grimace on her face. Marie nodded her understanding, before she eagerly made her retreat out of the room.

As Emily turned to face Lorelai, her disapproving expression dropped as a small smile took its place, "Come, let's sit." she said as she led the way into the living room.

"I'm sorry I didn't call first, mom." Lorelai tried apologizing again, "I got your message last night and I kind of jumped the gun." She quickly explained as she followed her mother.

Emily stood in front of the drinks cart as Lorelai took a seat on the couch, "No need for an apology, Lorelai." Emily discarded "Would you care for a drink?" She asked pointing towards the display of water, orange juice and ginger ale pitchers.

Lorelai shook her head as she politely declined, "No thanks, I'm okay."

Emily nodded, "Very well." She replied as she took up her seat.

Lorelai shot a glance towards her father's study, "Is dad home?" She asked once her mother was settled into her chair.

"No. I'm afraid he left to the office for the day." Emily replied as she scrutinized her daughter's behavior.

"Oh okay." Lorelai nodded, "I'm sorry," She cleared her throat, "I can't stay long. I've got Paul Anka in the car waiting."

Emily's brows pinched together slightly, "You've brought your dog with you?" She questioned with puzzlement.

"Yeah." Lorelai shrugged, "I didn't want to burden anyone in asking if they could dog-sit for me and I think he'd be good to have as company, while I'm out there. I brought some food for him and some of his toys, so he's all set, plus I think he'll love it."

Emily nodded slowly, "I think he will too." She once again silently examined her daughter before she let out, "I'm actually on my way out as well, so I don't have much time either, but I'm glad you caught me before I left."

"Oh, good."

"I mentioned that I have that D.A.R. meeting–"

Lorelai nodded, "I remember."

"Yes, well as I also mentioned, Lorene has given me the keys to the home." Lorelai nodded in acknowledgement as Emily continued, "which is what I presume your appearance is in relation to?" Lorelai again nodded, "I figured so, which is why I too, seemed to have _'jumped the gun'_ and took the liberty in sending out a staff to the house a few days ago."

Lorelai's brows raised in shock, as did her voice, "A staff of people? Mom, I don't want a staff of–" Lorelai began to object only for Emily to cut in.

"They won't be there." Emily cut her off, "The place is empty now. I sent them out before you could get there. I had them not only stock the refrigerator, but clean the place and check on things that needed to be tended to." She explained, "I also had all the utilities taken cared of, including sending out the cable company to be sure you have your television and internet accessibility, since I know you cannot function without either." She said, causing Lorelai to smile, "I also replaced any furniture and appliances that were outdated or didn't sit well with the rest of the decor."

"Mom–" Lorelai tried to speak, only to be cutoff once again.

Emily squeezed her eyes shut and fisted her hands, "Lorelai," She began, the frustration clearly coming out, "Just please let me have this one thing." She pleaded as her voice cracked a bit at the end.

Lorelai stood silently, allowing her mother to pick up again.

Emily reopened her eyes and pulled her shoulders back slightly before she continued, "I know you hate it when we walk your line of boundaries, but we wanted to do this for you. Your father and I did. We needed to be sure, – for our own sake – that you would be well taken cared of out there. We know it's only for a week, but we wanted to guarantee that you'd be comfortable. We know that this time away means a lot to you and we just wanted to help in any way that we could." Emily rambled on in her defense.

Lorelai smiled gratefully, "Thank you, mom. This really does mean a lot to me, and the fact that both you and dad understand it, means even more to me." She spoke softly as she held Emily's gaze.

Emily allowed the moment to linger, before she nodded and broke the silence, "Wonderful. I'll go get the key and then we both can be on our way." She advised as she arose from her chair.

Lorelai followed her gesture and pointed towards the entryway, "I'll just meet you by the front door."

Lorelai had just retrieved her coat, when her phone began to ring. She rummaged around in her purse that was fastened over her shoulder, until her fingers came into contact with her cell. She pulled it out, but just as she was about to flip it open to answer it, her brows furrowed in confusion as she read the name that flashed on the screen.

Lorelai stared at the name for a moment, internally debating on whether or not she should accept the call. She knew she needed to stick to the rules – rules that she, herself had made. She knew the rules would be tough to bare, but she needed to abide by them if she wanted things within her relationship to change for the better.

Lorelai sighed regretfully, hating the awful feeling that tugged at her heart as she pressed the button on the side of the phone, sending the caller straight to voicemail, before she replaced it back into her purse.

Emily had rounded the corner a few moments ago and witnessed the scene that had just transpired. She hated that her usually bubbly and wit-filled daughter had been subjected to this awful situation that caused her pain and sadness.

Emily didn't like that the man Lorelai had chosen was the root of all of this, but she knew it was out of her hands. She also knew that she needed to restrain herself from meddling into her daughter's business too much – due to past experiences – especially if she wanted to keep on Lorelai's good side.

Emily determined that she should make her presence known, "Is everything alright?" She voiced, surprising Lorelai.

Lorelai's hand flew over her chest, "Oh my God, mom!" she gasped, "You scared the crap out of me."

Emily's face screwed with distaste, "Honestly, Lorelai, your vocabulary astounds me, sometimes." She chastised as she shook her head in disapproval, "I apologize for startling you, but I called your name and you didn't answer. When I rounded the corner it looked as if you were upset." She explained coolly, then allowed her expression to soften, "Is everything alright?" She asked again, her voice full of sincerity.

"Yeah." Lorelai cleared her throat quickly and nodded, "I mean, yes. Everything is fine." She fibbed as best as she could, praying that her mother would let her off the hook this one time as she pressed her lips together tightly, seizing it from permitting any more words to slip out.

Emily could easily read through her daughter's front, but in the end figured she would save her questions for a later time, "Okay, good." She replied and held out her hand, which held a set of keys, "Here."

Lorelai accepted the set and held it tight in her hand. She looked up to meet her mother's gaze as she said, "Thank you."

Emily gave her a small nod, "Of course." She responded.

Emily had just opened the front door and was about to exit, but stopped and turned back to look Lorelai in the eyes, "Lorelai" She began, getting her daughters full attention, "I hope everything works out for you. You deserve to be happy." Lorelai's face softened once again at her mothers words as Emily added, "You both do."

Lorelai's usually bright blue eyes had taken on a new steel shade of blue, which held a soft veil of light red as its backdrop, caused by the combination of her drowsiness and the stinging sensation from all of her salty tears constantly blurring her vision.

"Thanks, mom." She responded softly, her voice full of appreciation

"Stay strong, Lorelai." Emily advised softly. Her carub colored eyes silently speaking words of its own, "It'll all work out." She added, causing Lorelai to nod. Emily inhaled deeply as she broke their gaze and looked at her watch that was fastened to her wrist, before looking back to Lorelai, "Shall we?" She offered as she gestured for Lorelai to proceed out ahead of her.

Lorelai nodded with a smile as she stepped out. Both women bid farewell to one another as they made their way to their respective vehicles and set off to their destinations.

* * *

 _According to_ Wikipedia _, the word_ 'lovesickness' _has an immense amount of ways it can be used. In example, the word itself can refer to an informal affliction that describes negative feelings associated with rejection, unrequited love or the absence of a loved one._

 _Lovesickness has the ability to manifest itself with physical symptoms, as well as mental. They say that many people believe that lovesickness was created as an explanation for longings, but it can be associated with depression and various mental health problems._

 _In 1915, Sigmund Freud asked rhetorically, "Isn't what we mean by 'falling in love' a kind of sickness and craziness, an illusion, a blindness to what the loved person is really like". And long before Freud, in 360 B.C.E, Plato stated, "Love is a serious mental disease," and Socrates added that, "Love is a madness."_

Whether it be the definition from one of the worlds most insightful websites, the quoted words from the well known psychologist, or either one of the legendary philosophers, Luke was experiencing each and every one of their interpreted meaning to the word _lovesickness,_ which was due to Lorelai's departure.

It hadn't even been a full two hours, since Lorelai had left town, and yet Luke had accomplished the task of driving himself crazy within that short period of time. After he had unwillingly watched her drive off until her taillights faded into the streets, he sat on her porch for an hour, until he couldn't sit still anymore.

Luke desperately tried to diminish his doubts in the situation that had previously unraveled. He needed to move, he needed to get up, do something… anything. His hands wouldn't stop wringing together and his legs bounced anxiously. He looked at his watch on his wrist for the fifth time in the past half hour, as it read; 8:13am.

He needed to get back to the Diner. Ceasar would need his help with the morning rush, until Lane and Glenn came in, but the unknowing of Lorelai's whereabouts nagged at him. He knew they weren't supposed to have contact with each other, but he couldn't help it.

He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to make sure that she got to wherever she was headed to.

He needed more than anything to hear her velvety soft voice, assuring him of her safety.

Luke swiftly reached into the front pocket of his jeans to retrieve his cell phone. His hands were shaking nervously as his fingers finally wrapped around the object and pulled it free. He clumsily held down the number 1, before pressing the green CALL button and impatiently waited for her to pick up.

He knew calling her was going against the rules, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to hear her voice. The phone rang and rang and rang. Each chime caused Luke's stomach to plummet further as his clamoring heart hammered against his ribs.

Lorelai wasn't picking up. Why wasn't she answering her phone? Lorelai always answered her phone. She had it on her at all times, in case there was an emergency involving Rory or himself, or even the Dragonfly.

When her voicemail sounded, he blew out a loud breath right before the beep as he then consented an infinite amount of words to flow out of his mouth. Once he was finished talking to her recorder, he pressed the red 'end' button and slipped it back into its previous spot in his pocket.

His thoughts raced with the fears of what could happen to Lorelai while she was gone. He didn't know where she would be, whom she could be with or where she would go. What if something bad happened to her? No one would know. No one would be able to know that she was hurt or for them to be able to help her.

Although it took all his strength, Luke exhaled loudly as he stood up and turned to look at the house. He silently vowed to be back soon. He felt helpless. He had no way of contacting Lorelai and it was all starting to slowly sink in.

Luke growled as he made his way back towards the Diner. The two now most hated words to him, continuously replayed in his mind; 'One week', it was so close and yet so far.

* * *

The faint sound of rocks crunching under her tires could be heard as Lorelai pulled up the length of the gravel path leading up to her new home for the next seven days. She parked her jeep and got out to take in the beauty of the estate.

It was exactly what her mind had conjured up in her dreams. The property was endless. The backyard alone was bigger than her and Babette's spaces combined. The house itself was truly remarkable. It was huge, the off white color allowed the dark gray accents to standout.

The outside appearance alone had her swooning. The large wrap around porch was decorated with comfy outdoor furniture and off towards the back was a small pond that had an enormous tree with a rope that hung from its largest branch.

Paul Anka jumped down out of the jeep and began trotting towards the house with Lorelai in tow. He climbed the steps and stopped to sit in front of the door. Lorelai followed and fetched the key out of her pocket before she opened the door.

"What do you think, boy?" She asked as they both stood on the outside of the threshold.

Paul Anka tilted his head slightly as if thinking about her question as his eyes took in the house. After a moment, he let out a soft bark and sauntered in sniffing out a place to settle himself.

"I guess you like it too." She laughed as she closed the door behind her.

She permitted her eyes to rake over every detail in the home. The pictures on the boards at the realtor's office didn't nearly do the place justice. She couldn't figure out how in the world she had dreamed of this exact place, when she hadn't ever been there before.

Was something like that even possible? Either way, everything she was currently observing, was the exact same things she foreseen in her dreams.

Lorelai gradually strolled through the tiny hall and peered into the doorway, which revealed the massive open kitchen from her Thanksgiving morning dream. The stainless steel appliances and the gas range stove that was centered on the granite island, was incredible.

There were black leather stools, which rested on the opposite side of the bar, and off in one corner of the room was an open archway that led to the dinning area where a large adjustable cherry wood table sat in the middle of the room.

Lorelai let her hand languidly brush over the stove as she passed it on her way over to the fridge. She was curious to what exactly her mother had told the help to stock it up with. As Lorelai opened the double doors, she literally thought she heard the angelic chorus playing in the background, because the fridge was loaded.

There was food galore. Some stuff she knew she probably wouldn't touch, because it caused for it to be cooked, but there was so much food. She smiled as she inwardly thanked her mother before shutting the door and turned to head back towards the living room.

As she entered, she smiled when she spotted Paul Anka curled up next to the gray stone fireplace. She turned and saw a hallway that led to more rooms, then she glanced upward at the beautiful maple staircase, which she recognized immediately.

She turned back to Paul Anka, "You gonna come exploring with me, boy?" She asked

Paul Anka didn't even bat an eye as he curled deeper into the plush carpet.

"I guess this is a one man kind of journey then, huh?" She joked.

She opted to go with familiarity as she headed towards the staircase. Just as she took the first step up, her phone began to ring. She stepped down and headed back to the couch where she had dropped her purse. She instantly grasped the ringing device and checked the screen.

Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as she read the same name that had flashed on the front less than a few hours ago. Her stomach twisted as she mandated herself to repeat her actions from earlier and pressed the button on the side of the device, silencing it at once.

She sighed heavily as she stared at the phone for a long moment, secretly berating her heart from trying to take over her mind. She needed to stay strong. No going back. This week needed to happen. She again replayed those three words from that morning, _'This is good.'_

Lorelai slid the phone into her back pocket and took in a deep breath before continuing on her journey to explore her new home. When her foot made contact with the landing, her phone sounded again. She groaned in frustration as she retracted the phone from her pocket and confirmed it was indeed the same caller.

How was this supposed to work if he kept calling her? He needed to stick to the rules. This wasn't fair to her, she was doing everything in her power to be strong and he was making it nearly impossible to do so.

She again silenced it and replaced the phone into her back pocket. She sauntered over to the first door, which presented a nice sized bedroom. The walls were painted heather gray, matching the color scheme of the gray stone fireplace in the living room.

Although, usually gray is more often used as a bland color, for some reason Lorelai felt it warming her from her insides, out.

Lorelai turned to see an open door that led to a full sized bathroom. It looked to be newly renovated with a more modern look, which she actually liked. She saw a door adjacent to the one she entered in from, easily pegging it as a Jack and Jill bath, so she walked towards the other entrance.

As she opened that door it exposed a replica of the first room. She immediately thought of the two children from her dreams and had to swiftly shake those craved images away as she removed herself from the room to continue on with her tour.

At the end of the hall, on the opposite side, stood bright white double doors. Lorelai grasped both handles and easily swung it open. She gasped at the immaculate master bedroom. It forced her to have déjà vu. The space was enormous. There were even the same sheer blue curtains that hung from the large paned windows.

She walked over to the master bathroom and immediately fell in love. There was a huge jacuzzi tub, as well as a large glass encased shower. The shower had a waterfall head and gray stones that coated the interior, which also matched the fireplace in the living room. There was his and her sinks with a mirror that stretched along the wall.

The place was extremely magnificent.

Just as she was about to exit the room, her phone began to chime once again. Lorelai's head dropped to her chest as she dreaded yet again to have to reject her caller. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and looked at the screen, only this time it read a different four-letter name.

Lorelai flipped open her cell and smiled, "Hey kid!"

"Hi mom!" came Rory's voice, "I'm on my way out, but I can't find my black converse's. Can you check if I left it in my room, please?"

Lorelai winced at the realization that she hadn't told her daughter about what was going on. Rory knew how Lorelai was feeling and knew of the predicament she and Luke were in, but she hadn't told her that she actually followed through and left town for a while.

"Um–" Lorelai cleared her throat, "Sweets? Don't be mad, okay?"

Rory halted her scurrying around at hearing her mother's tone, "You starting a sentence with; 'Don't be mad' makes me nervous, because it hints that I might just do that." Rory tried to joke, but quickly ditched that idea at hearing silence from her mother's side. "Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Is everything okay?" Rory asked, beginning to get worried

Lorelai bobbed her head slightly, "Yeah." She answered hesitantly, "Everything's fine…"she said unreassuringly, then added, "Sort of."

"What do you mean; 'sort of'? What's going on, Mom? Are you okay?" Rory shot off in a rush.

"Rory, honey, calm down. I'm fine. Everything is fine." She comforted her daughter as she made her way out of the room and began descending the stairs.

"But– but, you can't be fine, you just said 'sort of' and sort of is not fine." Rory rambled.

"Sort of doesn't mean not fine, hun. Sort of is sort of." Lorelai stalled.

"Mom?" Rory's voice was evident with a great deal of concern, as well as a slight edge of anxiousness, which caused Lorelai to sigh in defeat.

"How much time do you have to spare?" She asked as she made her way over to the large, plush L-shaped sofa and plopped herself down.

"Lots. Tell me what's going on." Rory said as she sat down on her bed and leaned back against the headboard.

Lorelai inhaled deeply as she then began to inform her daughter about every situation that had taken place since the last time they had seen each other at Lane's wedding. She updated her about everything.

She even told Rory about Billy. Rory – like Sookie – was suspicious about him, but Lorelai was quick to assure her daughter that the man was happily married, and was a friend and would stay just a friend. She assured Rory that Luke was and would always be the only man for her, no matter what difficulties they were going through in life.

Lorelai went on to explain how Billy was there for her a handful of times and resembled a father-like figure, which comforted her during those tough times. Lorelai continued her report and said that Luke didn't want her to leave, but she did anyway, because she knew it was the right thing to do.

She told Rory that she was now residing at the home that her parents planned to purchase for Luke and herself as a wedding gift. And before ending, she added that she and Luke were not to have any sort of contact with each other for a minimum of one week.

Lorelai blew out an exhausted breath after finishing as she waited to hear what her daughter would have to say in return. Rory had listened quietly as she absorbed all the information that was given to her. She had construed that she was on her mother's side on this one.

"Alright, kid, the silence is killing me." Lorelai said, breaking through her daughter's train of thought.

"Sorry, I was processing."

"Well, process faster. Mommy needs to know what you think about all of this."

"You want my honest opinion?"

"Of course. Be nice, please." Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as she anticipated her daughter's next words.

Rory made a big show of inhaling an exaggerated breath before she said, "I agree with you."

Lorelai's eyes snapped open, "What?"

Rory smiled on her side, "I agree with you, mom."

"Really?" Lorelai asked in disbelief

"Yeah. 100 percent." Rory confirmed, "I really do think that this break thing is a great idea. Luke has been constantly shutting you out and that's not okay." Rory explained, "You've been more than happy to step in and help with April, but he won't accept it, so that's on him." Rory inputted.

"He pushed you out on a limb that was about ready to snap, without the intention of being on the ground to catch you when you fell. Luke of all people should know better than to take his loved ones for granted, not only considering his past, but knowing that he pined for you for eight years should be the topper." She sighed, "You know I love you and Luke, but he keeps telling you that he needs _time_? Well," Rory shrugged easily "he wanted it, and now he's got it."

Lorelai sighed, "That's exactly what Billy said."

"You know, I'm liking this, Billy guy more and more." Rory joked lightly, "But seriously, mom. I think this is good. For both of you." She said softly, "Everybody needs a wake-up call every now and then."

Lorelai nodded, "I guess."

"We both know that Luke takes longer than most to process things, which is one of his very few downsides, but what we also know and seem to forget is that no matter what…" She paused to take a breath, "Luke always comes through."

"Yeah, I know, but–" Lorelai tried to disagree, but Rory was quick to interrupt.

"No second guessing, mom. Luke is probably going crazy as we speak, because he doesn't know where you are."

Lorelai breathed out a small laugh, "Maybe."

"Oh there's no doubting that. He definitely is." Rory laughed a little.

"He's been calling me non-stop since I left and it's unbelievably hard not to answer him. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but I know I need to stick this through."

"Yeah, but you're doing the right thing. Stay strong." Rory nodded, then added, "Or maybe just turn off your ringer, that way you technically don't know when or if he's calling, which takes away the guilty feeling."

"Oh, that's good. I'll still feel bad, but at least it won't come until after I actually look at my phone, which I'm going to try not to do too much."

"Yes, that's good. Do that." Rory encouraged, "It'll work out."

Lorelai stayed quiet for a moment, silently praying that it would in fact turn out that way.

"So one week, huh?" Rory said breaking the silence

"Yeah."

"You want company? I can come out and spend the week with you, if you want?" Rory offered.

Lorelai smiled, but shook her head, "Thanks, hun, but it's okay. You stay at school and spend as much time with Logan before he has to leave. I'm gonna work from out here a little everyday and just relax and enjoy the house for the rest of the time. I think I need to do this one alone."

Rory nodded her understanding, "I get it, but you'll let me know if you change your mind, right?"

Lorelai smiled at her daughter's concern, "You'll be the first to know."

"Good. Well, I'm gonna head out, but just call me if you need anything, even if it's just to talk."

"Yes, mom." Lorelai teased

"Okay. I love you, mom."

"I love you too, kid." She said as she ended the call.

After Lorelai hung up, she figured that she would take Rory's advice. She didn't want to turn her phone off, just in case of an emergency, but she figured silencing it would allow her to avoid having that knotted feeling in her stomach when she 'missed' the call from the person that she intentionally tried to dodge. So she turned off her ringer and deposited her phone onto the end table next to the couch and decided to finish up her tour of the downstairs area.

* * *

Luke was beyond frustrated. He had called and left more messages for Lorelai than he could remember. He was going insane. After getting back to the Diner, he washed up and got ready for work. His body was physically there, but his mind wasn't. He had finally pulled himself away, because he was no help to his staff.

He paced his apartment numerous amount of times, trying to rack his brain on what he should do. He tried to keep calm, but he had Lorelai on the brain and it wasn't letting up. He continuously called and left message after message in hopes that she might answer or call him back, but it was to no avail.

He was getting desperate. Everything and everywhere reminded him of Lorelai. This wasn't healthy right? Luke needed some fresh air, so he grabbed his keys and left his apartment, exiting out through the back.

Luke's mind ran frantically with so many thoughts. He needed to come up with a plan. He needed to mend that bridge – that Lorelai had mentioned – between his two worlds that he had wrongfully built separately. He needed to set aside some rules with Anna and make sure she knew he meant business, no matter what she tried to throw back at him.

He couldn't lose Lorelai over something that he could've easily prevented and he was going to make sure no one stood in the way of that. His happiness, his future, his reason for living was literally being stripped from him and he was the only one to blame for it.

Luke hadn't realized just how long he had been walking for, until he looked up and was met with the backside of the Dragonfly. As Luke walked up the stoned path towards the Inn, he could see Sookie marching back and forth doing different tasks. He shook his head and was about to turn, just before a thought struck him.

"Sookie." He breathed out in hope.

Sookie was Lorelai's best girl friend, but more than that, she was her business partner. She surely would have to know where Lorelai was. He practically sprinted the rest of the way up to the back entrance of the Dragonfly's kitchen and stormed through the door.

"Sookie!" He called out to her as he entered.

Sookie looked up at him from her position by the island as she paused mid stride from cutting the head of a raw duck off with a butcher knife.

"You!" she pointed the knife at Luke, causing him to rear back fast.

"Whoa, Sookie, watch out with–" Luke began to warn, but was cutoff.

"Don't 'whoa, Sookie', me. You are the reason my best friend has been miserable for months and you are the reason she's gone now." She said waving the knife around, causing her staff to duck and weave with every wave, "I don't know where she is, if she's okay, if she's being fed." She finished with a huff as she roughly slammed the knife down chopping the duck's neck off clean.

Luke winced visibly with a little bit of fear, before he registered her ending sentence as he pushed, "Wait. You don't know where Lorelai is?"

"No!" Sookie waved her arms out, this time without the clever in hand, "She said she would call, but she hasn't yet. I'm baking everything in sight, because I don't know what else to do while I wait." She said as she gestured to all the pans scattered in various places throughout the kitchen, "I baked every kind of dessert you can think of, plus anything that was in the fridge, salmons, pork, beef, chicken, you name it. I even baked poor Greg's necktie thinking it was eel. That's how out of it I am." She paused to take a breath, "And now, I'm on to duck. Duck?" She picked up a handful of chopped onions and threw it at him, "Duck!" She cried as she swiped her cheek with the back of her free hand then pointed an accusatory finger at Luke and said weakly, "And this is all your fault."

Luke stood rooted to the spot. Sookie was right, he had recently just blamed himself too, but now he was back in square one. Sookie didn't know where Lorelai was and if she was okay either. He was running out of options and didn't know what to do.

"I know, Sookie. You don't know how much I have been beating myself up, especially this past couple of days, but I need to know where Lorelai is, or at least if she's safe. You think this is crazy?" He asked, gesturing towards all the pans, "I haven't been able to work, let alone form a comprehendible sentence to anyone, because my mind is solely focused on if Lorelai is okay." He shook his head sadly, "I hate that I don't know where she is and she won't answer any of my calls. I know she wanted no contact, but I need to hear her voice. I need to know she's okay." He informed, his voice cracking uncontrollably.

Sookie could see that Luke was indeed beating himself up for this and began to feel bad for the guy. She was always in Luke's corner when it came to Lorelai's suitors, and she still was. She could see that he knew he messed up, but him being there in the state that he was in only confirmed that he was in fact trying to fix things.

Sookie knew that both Luke and Lorelai were meant for each other, she had been rooting for them for longer than she could remember. She looked at Luke and could clearly see that he hadn't gotten any sleep, and knowing him, he probably hadn't eaten anything either.

Sookie exhaled a defeated sigh as she dropped her angry façade, "If she calls, I'll let you know."

Luke nodded thankfully, "Thanks." He said gaining a nod from Sookie, "I'm gonna go walk a bit more, try to clear my head."

"Good. You've got a lot of work to do." She said, but smiled, showing him she was still in fact rooting for him and Lorelai.

"See ya, Sookie." He bid as he exited out of the back door.

Luke walked a little ways away from the Inn towards the bench that sat on top of the hill, overlooking the Dragonfly's property. He plopped himself down and pulled his phone out of his front pocket, dialing the same number once more.

He raised the phone to his ear and hoped to God that he would hear the soothing voice of his fiancée. The phone rang and rang some more, until Lorelai's voice finally did come over the receiver, but not in the way Luke had hoped for.

Luke sighed, deeply disappointed. He felt the heat building quickly in his eyes at hearing her recording. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and once again left yet another message that he prayed she'd return.

Luke dropped his phone back into his pocket and looked down at the bench he was sitting on. The last time he was sitting on a bench was almost two years ago, when he and Lorelai weren't even together. It was the night she had asked him out to dinner, only for it to be cancelled to due her Grandmother accusing her about not being successful.

He remembered he felt both enthralled and pissed that night. He was upset because their dinner was cancelled and he wasn't going to get to spend time away from the town alone with her. He was also mad that someone, let alone a family member would even have anything bad to say about Lorelai.

He was overjoyed because she came to him. He was there to lend his shoulder for her to cry on, he was there to comfort her and he was the one that got to hold her tight and reassure her that she was not failing. Not only was Lorelai upset about the thought of failing, but he remembered she was sad that she hadn't been able to get into contact with Rory.

Luke's eyes widened with the connection, "Rory!" He exclaimed and hurried to dig his cell back out of his pocket.

He frantically dialed Rory's number, hoping by chance that she would have more information. Luke's heart pounded in his chest with anticipation, just when he was about to give up, the receiver clicked.

"Hello?" Rory shouted over the loud noise that was in her background.

"Rory?" Luke answered back, trying to speak loud enough for her to hear.

The background noise drew quieter as Rory walked out of the bar, "Luke?"

"Yeah, it's me." He confirmed, his voice returning to his normal volume, "I'm sorry to bother you. Is this a bad time?"

"No, it's fine." She assured, "Are you okay?" She asked, her tone leaked with concern.

Luke nodded, "Um yeah" then shook his head, "No." he answered honestly, "Things are a disaster between your mom an I right now and I can't get a hold of her."

"I thought you guys couldn't have any sort of contact for one week?"

"Well, yeah, but– wait a minute, does that mean that you've spoken to her?"

"Yeah, just a little while ago." Rory confirmed.

Luke slumped back onto the bench, "So she is just dodging my calls." He stated disappointingly.

"No, Luke, she's not dodging your calls. Mom is just trying to stick to the rules." Rory informed him.

"Yeah, well, those rules are idiotic. I don't know where she is, what she's doing, who she's with, if she made it to wherever she was headed to safely or if she's even okay? I mean, I'm losing my mind here, Rory."

"Well if it helps, she did make it to her destination safely. Where that is exactly? I'm honestly not sure, because I didn't bother asking. She sounded sad, but overall okay. She's taking it slow and said she'd call if she needed anything."

"That's good news, I guess, seeing that she's okay, but no one knows where she is?" He asked seriously bemused.

"Nope, sorry. The only thing I know is that she's in a house, not too far away from town, but where exactly? Again, I don't know. Plus, I probably couldn't tell you even if I did. It's against the rules, remember?" the corner of her lips lifting a bit.

Luke growled softly, "Stupid rules." He mumbled, "I just–" He paused, trying to not sound too weak before he continued, "I just want her to come back."

Rory loved Luke, she didn't like knowing that her parents were in pain and were sad without the other, but she also knew that they needed to fix things between each other and they both would do anything to fight til the end for the other.

"I know. She will. But in the mean time, I hope you're using this time apart wisely."

"Not really." He answered openly, "I haven't been able to concentrate on anything except your mom." He sighed heavily, "But I will, with great difficulty." Without Lorelai by his side, he felt like his whole world had turned upside down.

"Good. Slow and steady always wins the race." She encouraged lightly.

"Yeah, let's just hope for my sake, I'm not too late." He said dejectedly.

Rory smiled, "It's never too late for you and mom, Luke."

"I hope so." Luke said warily.

"Can I give you a piece of advice?" Rory asked calmly.

"Please." He jumped at the chance to getting Lorelai back faster.

"Don't just say what you think mom wants to hear just to get her to settle, because that won't last. Whatever you promise, whatever you decide and whatever you say you're going to do, do it. You can't be all nice one day, only to push her out the next, Luke. You need to openly communicate, no matter how much it goes against your usual monosyllabic ways. I scolded her too and she has things to think about as well, but I'm counting on you, Luke. You're the only one that can make mom happy again, but if this isn't what you want–"

"This is. _She_ is." He interjected without a doubt.

"Good. That's good." She nodded on her side, glad to hear the same sureness in his voice for her mother, "Just make sure you're ready for when she gets back. And don't give up, Luke. Just… keep fighting for her." She exhaled, "She's never loved anyone, until you came along."

Luke blinked hard at hearing her confession. He knew exactly what she was talking about, because it was the same for him. He didn't know the meaning of real love, until he met Lorelai. She was the only person that he couldn't let go of. She was forever engraved into his bones. She was it for him and he needed her to know that once and for all.

"I will. You have my word." He promised, "Thanks, Rory."

"I'll see you soon, Luke."

Luke ended the call and slipped his phone back in its rightful place. He began to feel numb to everything and everyone around him. The only thing coming in on his internal reception was the slicing sound of static. Knowing that Lorelai was safe had at least put his mind at a little ease, but he was still set on keeping his promise to her and doing anything he could to fix their relationship.

He blew out a deep breath and slumped further onto the bench. It was happening. The world was still continuing on as if nothing went wrong, even though it felt as if his life had been put to an end. He felt absolutely helpless to the horrid full affect of life without Lorelai Gilmore. This week would without a doubt be the worst week of his life, and it was only the first day.

* * *

After Lorelai had got off the phone with her daughter, she had continued her exploring of the rest of the house. She had discovered two beautifully spacious rooms as well as a nice sized office. There was a library, just like Lorene had mentioned, which she knew her daughter would love. There was a small spare room towards the back as well.

The house was truly incredible. Her thoughts already had her thinking about when she could properly move in. This house was definitely too good to give up, and the fact that this was only the second time in almost a century that it was up for sell, proved it.

Lorelai had made her way back towards the living room, where Paul Anka still rested, "Hey buddie." She said as she crouched down and cleverly clipped his leash on his collar, "You wanna go for a walk?" She asked as she stood.

Paul Anka hopped up and pranced towards the door with Lorelai in tow. She opened the door and exited. They descended down the stairs and began strolling down the small path along the pond. Paul Anka sniffed the ground and kept on as if he smelt something familiar.

He tugged forward, eagerly trying to pick up the pace, "What is it, boy?" she asked as she looked upward to what caused her dogs reaction.

Lorelai could slowly make out a male figure a little ways in the distance. The pulls from Paul Anka as well as her raw curiosity drew her to the form. As they got closer, Lorelai's face lit up as her lips spread in a huge grin. She easily recognized the man on the dock at the end of the creek.

"Billy" She breathed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** T.H.A.N.K. Y.O.U. A.L.L.

I'll be back very soon!


	10. Sinking Battleships

**Disclaimer:** ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.

 **Author's Note:** Surprise! Yay for restlessness lol. Here's Chapter 10. Now for the O.G.'s chapter 11 should be up soon. I'll be going over it this week. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Vital Company**

 _Chapter 10: Sinking Battleships_

Lorelai stood rooted, clearly stunned at seeing Billy, there, at her covert sanctuary for the week.

 _'How?'_ was the main and biggest question that flooded her mind. How in the world was he there? How the hell did he always somehow pop-up wherever she was? How was it possible that he had discovered the exact clandestine spot that she was at, when _no one_ else knew where she was at, except for her parents?

He couldn't possibly be in cahoots with them, could he?

No! Now way. That would be ridiculous, especially since Billy was more down to earth and – with no offense to her parents – he didn't resemble her parents in any way.

He was just this peculiar mystical being that Lorelai could not figure out for the life of her. Although she joked about him being _'Houdini',_ she was now actually beginning to believe just that, because he was blowing her mind with his unexplainable, impulsive appearances.

Paul Anka continued to softly tug her forward in the direction of the recognizable scent he had picked up. Lorelai was in such a mixed state, that she unconsciously dropped the leash, allowing Paul Anka to prance off ahead in a graceful trot.

He let out a soft bark as he neared Billy, allowing his company to be recognized. Billy looked up at the sudden new sound added to the peaceful flow of the creek's water, just as Paul Anka hurried down the dock and hopped up on his hind legs to rest his front paws on Billy's chest.

"Whoa!" Billy let out a staggered yelp as he steadied himself and attempted to take in where Paul Anka had come from.

He casually permitted his eyes to roam over his surroundings, triggering his convivial green gaze to finally land upon Lorelai, just across the way.

The small, but distinctly recognizable crescent shaped indentions appeared instantly on the sides of his mouth, causing the now recurring pang of familiarity to strike deep within Lorelai's gut once more. He waved his greeting and began making his way off the dock towards her with Paul Anka following close behind.

After a moment of taking in the fact that she was most definitely seeing Billy – in all his mysterious and magical glory – she shook her head in disbelief as she waited for him to approach.

"Oh my God!" She exhaled in a pleasant daze as her face broke out with a huge grin.

"Lorelai!" Billy chuckled, "What are the odds?" He greeted warmly as he at last came to stand in front of her.

Lorelai's face contorted into mock apprehension as she asked, "Are my eyes deceiving me? Did the council send you and the crew in the _Enterprise_ at warp speed to get here?"

"What?" He asked, slightly worried that she had maybe completely lost her marbles in the short time that he hadn't seen her.

Lorelai's expression twisted with feigned seriousness, "Stand firm, Captain!" She commanded as she held up a hand – palm facing towards him, causing Billy to raise his brows in confusion.

He lifted a hand to wave off her retort; "There she goes again with the names." He mumbled to no one in particular as he shook his head.

"Shhh!" She shushed him as she looked up to the sky, which was swiftly turning gray and filling with thick clouds, before she looked back at him bringing her right hand up – causing her wrist to be directly in front of her mouth – as she pretended to speak into an imaginary gadget, "Beam me up, Scotty!"

Billy looked around for any other life forms, but came up short, "Uh, Lorelai?" He began cautiously as he narrowed his eyes at her odd behavior, truly at a lost to what she was doing.

Lorelai looked back at Billy, "It's not working, Captain. What should we do?" She asked Billy in simulated panic, terribly attempting to bite back her smile.

Billy's mouth hung slightly agape, "Are you on some kind of medication that I don't know about?" He asked, still perplexed by her actions.

Lorelai couldn't hold it in anymore at the sight of Billy's dumfounded expression and rumbled uncontrollably as she let the dam break. She dropped her hands to her knees as she bent over in a fit of laughter, unable to hold back her mirth, which only caused Billy to look at her like she was even more out of her mind.

Lorelai swiftly tried to pull herself together and raised back upright to look at Billy. Her eyes held her obvious amusement as she managed to slowly settle down.

"I'm sorry," She apologized lightly, "but seriously, did you teleport here?" She asked, lifting her brows humorously.

Billy's brows rose with curiosity, "I beg your pardon?" He asked with a smirk as he tilted his head to her question.

"Do you have some kind of teleporting or multiplying super power, _Loki_?" She rephrased her tease as she silently thanked her childhood crush of the cartoon superhero character _Bruce Banner_ , who had at one point or another faced the challenge of his alliance – _Thor's_ brother – _Loki_ for her to know that witty reference.

Now that she was older, she realized that _Bruce Banner_ had resembled Luke, in almost every way. They were both sexy as hell, smart, kind, helpful to the ones they loved and cared about, were deep down hopeless romantics when it came to the woman they loved deeply and most of all, they had a bit of a temper that could get a bit out of control at times.

Granted _Bruce Banner_ had himself turning into an uncontrollable, huge green monster that caused destruction, while Luke's rage would consist of a very entertaining rant or some growling and stomping, but still, it was a bit shocking when she had compared the two and connected their similarities soon after they had finally gotten together.

She secretly congratulated herself for having impeccable taste for love after all.

Billy's expression immediately softened as he chuckled softly, "No." He answered easily – for once, understanding the meaning behind one of her off the wall names she spouted out, thanks to his children being enraptured by _DC_ and _Marvel's_ super heroes for a period of time in their youth.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes playfully once more as she continued, "I'm not experiencing some kind of _Lifetime_ movie then, am I? Where you butter me up and get me to trust you, thinking that you're a genuine guy and then 'bam'," she snapped her fingers," I find out you're some kind of axe murderer that preys on sad woman that cry and complain about their other half and their withering relationship."

Billy pressed his lips together as if contemplating that thought. He looked Lorelai up and down as his face held no emotion. He shook his head slightly and said, "I wouldn't use an axe if I were a murderer."

Lorelai's smile instantly dropped as her brows lifted in surprise. Now it was her turn to show trepidation as she asked, "What?"

Billy shrugged calmly and replied, "Axes aren't a good murder weapon, especially if you're in a hurry. You'd have to lug it around and it'd take most of your energy just to haul it, not to mention to actually swing it when you," he chopped the air, "you know. If anything, my weapon of choice would be a Bowie knife. About seven, maybe nine inches long. Light, quick and quiet." He slashed his hands out in front of him as he made a _shick_ sound effect as if slicing a throat.

Lorelai's eyes widened as her mouth dropped further, "What?!"

Billy let out a low roar of laughter, "What? You can dish it out, but you can't handle it when someone else hits you back with it?"

Lorelai let out a small laugh, "It's not that. I just didn't know whether to laugh or start running while screaming my head off." She joked, as she relaxed her spine, which had unconsciously stiffened at hearing Billy's words.

Billy chuckled, "You don't have anything to worry about, Ms. Gilmore. You're safe with me." He replied as he held his now notorious smirk.

"Good. I hope so," She smiled, "but seriously, are you stalking me?"

He barked out another laugh, "I was gonna ask you the same thing." He replied as he mirrored her narrowed eyes with spilling humor.

Lorelai let out a small laugh, "No," She shook her head, "but if you don't have any super powers, you're not a mass murderer and you're not stalking me," She teased, "then that must mean you're my guardian angel." She joked, gaining a slow smirk from Billy, before she offered, "Or my fairy God-Father." with a mischievous grin.

Billy's smirk fell as he pointed a finger at her and replied, "Watch it, Gilmore." He scolded lightheartedly, before lifting his chin slightly, allowing his smirk to re-etch itself back onto his lips, neither confirming nor denying her allegation.

Lorelai tilted her head slightly, her mind actually processing that exact thought. As if sensing what Lorelai's thoughts were leading to, Billy cleared his throat.

"So, what are you doing out here?" He asked her, changing the subject, "I can't imagine you having to always come out to the border of Stars Hollow just to walk your dog." He said, while glancing over at Paul Anka who sat next to his right foot.

Lorelai's brows raised at the topic transition, "Oh, uh, no." She stammered a bit, "No, um–" She turned slightly to hook her thumb back at the house, "That's my new home for a while." She flashed a small smile, "Who knows maybe longer, but I finally talked with Luke and – although it was tough – I got him to agree to give us a week apart." She told him with a shrug.

Billy tilted his head, "You did?" He asked a bit surprised.

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah." She acknowledged, but her brows pinched together at catching Billy's slight amazement, "Why do you seem so shocked? You thought I wouldn't have it in me?" She questioned him with slight offense.

Billy's eyes went wide, but he quickly shook his head to dismiss her train of thought, "Oh, no! I knew you could do it. I just didn't think your guy would like it and allow you to leave." He explained, "I don't know, I just assumed he would've fought tooth and nail for you not to, you know?" He shrugged, "Because if I was in that situation, I know I would – for my girl." He offered.

Lorelai's brows lifted in agreement, "Oh trust me. He _did_." She proclaimed slowly, sure to enunciate each word.

Billy chuckled softly, "Yeah?" He asked, causing Lorelai to nod silently, "Well, that's a good thing, right?"

Lorelai sighed heavily as she contemplated her answer.

It was a good thing – it was a very good thing – that Luke had wanted to fight for her, but she couldn't block out that tiny, but deafening part of her that felt like Luke had only put up that fight out of obligation to give her a show.

She knew that that was a horrible thing to think and she knew he loved her and his fight for her was genuine, but no matter how much times she tried to flush away that ridiculous thought, it would only creep it's way right back into her mind.

Lorelai just wished he hadn't completely shut her out; maybe that crude thought wouldn't have been planted there in the first place, but it had and she felt helpless when it came to her fiancée. She couldn't decipher what was going on with him. She felt as if she shouldn't even offer him her help anymore, because she knew he would only reject it.

She knew she came from a family of the high-class society and they held wealth. She knew she had a magnificent and successful Inn. She knew she had a house and a car. She also knew that she had a daughter who was incredibly smart, and was part her and part a man who was not Luke.

She knew she had quite a few things on paper to offer, but that wasn't Lorelai. She wasn't about offering things that didn't mean anything to her - not including Rory, of course.

She and her daughter came as a packaged deal and the only thing she could and wanted to offer – to the right man – was her heart.

Not much men could handle the thought of a packaged deal so early on and not much men wanted to commit so quick, which was fine with Lorelai, because she wasn't asking for a proposal, but merely acceptance and love in return.

No one had been able to live up to her small yet unchangeable standards… until Luke came along.

Luke was the one and only man who had hammered down her walls and successfully kept them down, but he was now also the reason she had been in the process of rebuilding that same wall he had demolished.

She berated herself because she should've seen this coming. She witnessed all the signs from Luke that she had - numerous amounts of times - displayed in the past when she went distant from a significant other. But Lorelai tried to ignore it, because for the life of her, she didn't want to believe that Luke was doing the same thing to her.

She knew karma could be feisty, and she couldn't help but think that this was its way of getting back at her for all the past relationships she had screwed up. Payback was a bitch as it had hit her head on for all the hearts she had unintentionally broken in her past.

She loved Luke, with all of her heart and more, but it still didn't seem to be enough for him to fully let her in. She didn't know what else to do and for once she was glad she listened to her own gut when it had told her to take some time away for herself, because Lord knows she needed it.

Suddenly, Lorelai felt a heavy drop of water land on top of her shoulder and knew it wouldn't be long before it would begin to pour. She had sensed that indescribable, well-defined scent that always came before the rain would actually make its appearance.

She truly believed it was connected with the exact same thing she had with never being able to describe the smell of snow – which she was never wrong about. It made sense too because rain was just the liquefied version of the frozen stuff she loved so much. She didn't know how to explain the reasoning behind it, but she just knew.

Lorelai gave Billy an apologetic smile for her long silence. She exhaled loudly, before she asked, "How much time you got today, Doc?"

Billy flashed her that slapping proverbial smirk again, "Plenty." He answered.

Lorelai nodded and glanced to Paul Anka who was resting with his head on his paws, before looking back to Billy, "It's gonna rain and he's over the walk. You wanna head inside – wait it out and grab something to eat, while I chew your ear off?"

Billy glanced up towards the quickly darkening sky, before he allowed his emerald eyes to fall back to Lorelai and nodded, "Sure, after you." He said as he gestured for her to lead the way.

* * *

Of course. Of course, this would happen. Of course, the weather would unexpectedly decide to mirror Luke's bleak and depressing mood, only causing his behavior and appearance to darken even further.

In addition to the clouds that rolled in, the deep bellowing of thunder came along with it as it sounded its warning for what was to come. Stars Hollow's weather had quickly took a turn for the worst.

It began to drizzle when Luke had finally returned to the Diner from his walk. The place was packed with people – it seemed as if it was littered with everyone in town. When he entered and the bell jingled above him, the Diner instantly fell over in a hush.

If Luke hadn't been so preoccupied with his thoughts of Lorelai, he would've actually noticed all the eyes that were glued to him, but since his mind was still in a daze, he ambled through the diner, pass the curtain and up the stairs in pursuit to get to his apartment unaffected.

Ceasar and Lane shared worried looks between each other as they witnessed their boss breeze by without a word as if he was in some sort of untouchable trance. They both knew bits and pieces about the situation between their boss and his fiancée, but they knew better than to get involved in his personal business.

"Aw the poor doll." Rasped Babette, once Luke was out of earshot, "Watching him like that just breaks my poor little heart." She held a hand over her chest as if it truly ached.

"Well, not to rub salt on an open wound, honey, but I think he deserved most of this." Miss. Patty replied.

Babette gasped, "Patty!" as she gave her a shocked look.

Gypsy sat at the table next to them and inputted, "Pink power, baby!" as she thrust a fist in the air.

"Gypsy!" Babette turned to gasp at the woman, who in return just shrugged.

"What?" Patty asked as if she said nothing wrong, "Honey, aren't you forgetting how he treated Lorelai for the past few months? The poor girl, I've never seen her look so sad before." She shook her head remorsefully, "She did everything to show Luke that she supported him even though he kept secrets from her, and he just kept brushing her off. Lorelai was slowly falling apart and Luke didn't do anything to help. We all saw it."

"Yeah, especially at your wedding!" Gypsy retorted as she pointed to Lane.

"I guess you got a point there, sugah… it's just, those two have waited so long to be together, and when they finally did it, it seemed like every worse possible obstacle keeps getting thrown their way to tear them apart."

"Mother always tells me that sometimes obstacles aren't presented to us to break us, but to merely test our strength – also to see just how much we'll fight to overcome said obstacle." Supplied Kirk, who sat at the table in front of the woman.

The whole Diner once again fell into silence as everyone looked over at Kirk as if he had just figured out the answer to time travel. Kirk nodded his head in satisfaction and gave a small smile, before he turned back to his plate of chicken tenders and star sliced fruit.

Gypsy was the first to speak as she waved her hands in Kirk's general direction as she said, "How the hell can Kirk say something so damn smart and yet he can't remember to zip up his fly every time he comes out of the bathroom?"

Miss. Patty shook her head, "I don't know, honey, but let's hope for the sake of those two, Kirk's mother is right." Patty sighed heavily, "I have never seen two people who are more right for each other than them. They both deserve to be happy, these obstacles are tough ones."

"Yeah, but they love each other too much to give up. No matter what's thrown at them, they'll make it. I know it. My nails are the opposite of Pinocchio's nose – they stop growing as fast when I tell a lie and I've been saying those two belong together for years and my nails keep growing like California grass." Babette screeched in her hoarse voice as she flashed her hands for evidence, "It's Luke and Lorelai for God's sake!"

Reverend Skinner sat in the corner with the town's Rabbi and loudly cleared his throat.

"Oops! Sorry, Reverend." Babette apologized.

Reverend Skinner shook his head easily, "Oh no, I was just going to add to your statement. I was going to add that; God always has a plan. Although, we may not always agree or understand it while we're going through it, but it's always for the best in the end." He chimed.

"Yeah, well let's pray for Luke and Lorelai's sake that God's plan speeds up a bit, so they can just be happy already." Patty replied sadly, while everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

Luke had made it up to his apartment and had splashed some water on his face before he restlessly paced up and down his small kitchen, completely oblivious to the chatter about him and Lorelai downstairs.

There was now an unforeseeable storm approaching the town, that wasn't in the projected forecast that morning. Stupid, Lance Cranston. Stupid, Kimmie Liston. And stupid, stupid, Jimmy Mountain in that stupid helicopter.

Why on earth were these people paid to provide the forecast, when their calculations they blabbed out were never right? They were idiots. All of them and their previous probable desire to become meteorologists.

The fluke change in the weather, along with the absence of Stars Hollow's biggest ray of sunshine, didn't go unnoticed by Luke. In fact, he knew it was exactly because of her lack of presence in town that there was no sign of sunlight anywhere.

Wherever Lorelai was, the sun had gone along with her too, which he didn't blame because he would be right there beside her if he had been allowed to tag along, but he wasn't – hence his desolate mood.

Luke imagined that she had magical weather controlling powers, just like one of the cartoon superheroes that he and Liz would watch on weekend mornings, when they were younger.

He envisioned that Lorelai was the magnificent and breathtaking distant relative to Ororo Munroe – or better known as _Storm_ from _Marvel's X-Men_.

Luke just wished at a time like this, he possessed the vast clairvoyant powers of _Professor Charles Xavier_ , so he could read and communicate with Lorelai through their minds to find out where she was, so he could be with her as soon as possible.

Seeing how he didn't possess any super powers of any kind, and he had absolutely no clue to where Lorelai currently was, he languidly made his way over to his bed and plopped down heavily onto it, in a somewhat delirious state. He had gone over thirty hours without any sleep and although his mind was running as if hopped up on sugar, his body was shutting down with rapid speed.

He truly felt empty – completely hopeless. Luke was always Mr. Fix-It, especially when it came to Lorelai. He was her guy for _everything_ , and yet now he didn't have the slightest idea on what his future held for him – for _them_ … and to say that he wasn't scared, would be the biggest understatement of his life.

He clumsily toed his boots off before swinging his legs up onto the bed as he eased himself to lie down, while countless amount of memories flooded his mind of when he and Lorelai had went through their first break up. The images and words came at him so fast that he had no way of breaking them apart. One would end, only for another to begin.

Luke stared unblinkingly at the faded light brown ceiling, desperately trying to puzzle out each vision that came forth.

… _"I just need some time."_ He said to her as she looked at him with pain-filled eyes.

 _"Time…"_ She softly repeated, her voice full of defeat.

 _"A little time – to think."_ He explained shortly, not even bothering to shoot her a sympathy glance, _"I need to clear my head."_ He added, finally shooting her a warning glare, which caused those usually shining orbs of hers to take on a darker shade of blue…

… _"I need more time! I told you that."_ He dismissed.

She shook her head, _"I'm afraid of this_ 'more time' _stuff. I'm afraid it'll take forty years and that's not good."_

 _"Lorelai–"_

 _"We'll miss our middle. I want a middle. And the town is dividing us up. I need that to stop."_

 _"Don't."_ He warned.

 _"Luke. I'm all in. I am all in. Please, trust me. Let me show you what a great girlfriend I can be. But I can't wait. We can't wait. I need to know what you're thinking right now."_ She confessed, her hopes soaring, waiting to be caught.

 _"Fine! You want to know what I'm thinking right now? That I can't be in this relationship, it's too much."_ He spat out just before he turned to leave her looking as if her heart had been ripped out. Her blue eyes growing a darker shade of blue, yet again…

… She sighed, completely embarrassed by her actions, _"I'm so sorry, Luke. I will never do this to you ever again. I am absolutely humiliated. I just want you to know that I heard you when you said that you're out. I did. I'm going to respect that from now on."_ Blue. Dark, deep, endless pools of blue…

Lorelai's usually bright sky blue eyes had turned to a dimmed down sapphire. And the only common denominator in every equation for the cause was Luke. The thought of those sad infinite midnight blue eyes swallowed him into their depths as his eyelids gave in to the clutches of slumber.

The waves sloshed against him as he struggled to stay afloat, "Help?!" He yelled out into the never-ending sea of blue, but winced immediately after doing so as the dryness burned his throat, "Help!" He tried again, this time swallowing a gulp of salty sea water.

Luke continued to tread as he fought to keep his head above water. He heard a gurgle and faint sound that almost resembled a voice next to him, but when he looked over, there was no one there. He desperately tried to assimilate his surroundings as he slowly spun himself in a small circle.

All he could see was dark blue; dark blue to his left, dark blue to his right, dark blue everywhere. The only thing he put together was that he was somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

His body was quickly growing weak from apparently fighting the tide and trying to stay above water. He felt himself gradually sinking. He inadvertently gulped down more and more of the sea with every passing second.

He instantly thought to lose some of the unwanted burden of mass that he carried, so he hastily shed his flannel, kicked off his boots and pulled off his socks underwater. When he resurfaced, he heard that same gurgling sound again and a soft strained voice that he couldn't make out, but when he spun to locate where the noise came from, he was once again met with nothing.

Luke still seemed to struggle, so he pulled his belt free and chucked off his jeans in addition. He felt himself float a bit more, his tired muscles thanking himself for dropping more unnecessary weight. But the waves still crashed into him and his body had already depleted most of its energy.

Luke began to give up hope and was near throwing in the towel, until he heard her.

"Luke?" Her voice was soft and rasped and it sounded as if someone was strangling her, but it was _her_ voice without a doubt.

Luke mustered up every last ounce of strength he had left as he desperately spun around trying to search for her, "Lorelai?!" He called out, ignoring the pain in his dry throat, "Lorelai?!" He called again just as a wave tumbled into him.

He coughed and swallowed more water as he continued to frantically search for her. He knew he heard her. It was her voice. He knew it was her voice. He could tell her voice from anywhere. Where was she?

"Luke?" Her soft strained voice sounded again, "Help!" She gurgled.

Luke began to panic, "Lorelai?!" He called out once more, "Lorelai, where are you?"

He was quickly losing his strength and he couldn't seem to find Lorelai, "Please, Lorelai, answer me." He begged.

His vision had long blurred and his throat still burned from the sea. He swiftly felt himself losing the battle to his aching muscles as he persistently quested for Lorelai.

"Luke–" He heard her again, but this time it was even softer and water-filled.

She was drowning. He needed to help her. He needed to get to her, but where the hell was she?

"Lorelai?" He yelled, "Lorelai!" His terrified voice rang out only to be met with no reply.

His biggest fear of losing Lorelai for good was currently playing out. And without notice, another huge wave came hurdling down into him, causing him to be ingested by the sea.

"Lorelai!" Luke panted as he shot straight up in bed, frantically gasping for air.

Luke's shirt was drenched in sweat and his breathing was erratic as he tried to blink back his dream. Lorelai. She was there, in his dream, but where? She sounded like she was drowning, but he couldn't find her. He couldn't help her… _He didn't save her._

The loneliness was making him restless and without Lorelai by his side, he felt empty. For so long his whole world was Lorelai, and now that he was experiencing life without her at all, he was miserable and incomplete. The dream only put his nerves more on edge as well as made him want Lorelai back immediately.

As Luke tried to compose himself, he realized it was now the end of the day. The only noise that sounded, was the rain that clattered loudly against the asphalt throughout the town. The sky was pitch black, with no stars in sight. The streetlights gave off an orange-ish glow outside.

Luke's nap had taken up more time than he had intended it to. He presumed he would feel rested and a little more focused, but his body somehow still felt exhausted. In some off way, his muscles felt as if they took his dream literally as it ached and weighted him to his bed like led.

Luke struggled, but got up and headed for the bathroom. He gradually shed his clothes and hopped in the shower, hoping to wash away the memories of his horrible nightmare and praying that he could get some rest, so his body could recuperate and he could clear his hazed state to focus on fixing his current situation he was in.

* * *

After having loaded sandwiches and chips for lunch, Lorelai had updated Billy on everything that happened between herself and Luke since the last time she had saw him in the streets of town. Billy had congratulated her and said he thought that from the way she spoke of Luke's reaction, that the plan was working and everything would workout.

Lorelai had taken up a depressed expression and had grown quiet.

Billy had noticed that it was nearing dinner, so in attempts to break her out of her sad state, he asked, "What's on the menu for dinner?"

Lorelai cracked a smile as she grimaced a bit, "Help yourself to anything in there." She said, pointing towards the fridge, "I can't cook, unless it's pop tarts, tater tots or hot pockets."

"What?" Billy asked, clearly thinking it was one of her crazy jokes again.

"Yeah, Luke usually feeds me and keeps me caffeinated. I'm no _June Clever_." She shrugged.

Billy looked at Lorelai in disbelief, "Not even eggs?" He questioned, still having trouble wrapping his head around what she had said.

Lorelai laughed as she shook her head, "Not unless you count, black crispy ones."

Billy whistled in amazement, "Wow…" He tilted his head as he got an idea, "You know what, I told you I'm on my little fishing vacation for the week and you're here for the week, what if we make a deal?" He offered, lifting his brows encouragingly.

"Curiosity killed the cat…" Lorelai replied before she added, "Meow?"

Billy chuckled as he shook his head, "I'll teach you how to cook one dish," He held up one finger for emphasis gaining a scrunched up face from Lorelai, "and in return – before I head back to town – I'll take you to the Carnival out by the border towards Manhattan." He lifted his chin in question as he stuck his hand out for her to shake, "Deal?"

Lorelai stared at his offered hand, before she winced, "Can't you just take me to the carnival and save us all from crappy tasting burnt food and smoke filled lungs?"

Billy smirked as he shook his head, his hand staying put between them, "Nope."

Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as she slowly lifted her hand to accept his deal, "Deal." She answered reluctantly.

Billy's smirk grew into a full smile as he dropped his hand, "Tonight's dinner is a freebie, but pay attention, you could pick up a thing or two."

Lorelai shook her head, as her grin remained steady on her lips, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. I think it's because I'm so dehydrated, and what type of person would I be if I didn't take care of my body?" She joked as she opened the fridge to retrieve two cold beers.

Billy chuckled, "Mmmhm." He mumbled as he gratefully accepted one of the beers she handed him, before he began preparing their last meal of the day, with Lorelai easily chattering away.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hope you guys are enjoying and sticking with me through this long awaited fic. I'm just so bummed that there are hardly any LL fics out there. It's all Rory ones... *blehh* lol. Thanks again and hope to be back asap. Ya'll ROCK! **_-KISF_**


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